


I'll Be Your Gravity, You Be My Oxygen

by lovesnarf (snarfette)



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-12
Updated: 2019-03-11
Packaged: 2019-10-08 20:21:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 24,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17393081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snarfette/pseuds/lovesnarf
Summary: Aaron had always had his gift. At least, for as long as he could remember.





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> This has been sitting waiting for me to either post it or give up on it for ages. It came about because of a conversation on tumblr months ago about what ‘superpowers’ Aaron might have in an alternate reality. I wrote a bit and then lost my inspiration but I need something to get me writing so I’m hoping this will trigger it.  
> Let me know what you think and if you’d like to read more.
> 
> Title is from Bring Me The Horizon’s ‘Follow You’ which is such a Robron song.

Aaron had always had his gift. At least, for as long as he could remember.

From the moment Jessica Campbell had fallen over on the playground in Year 1 and he’d put his hand on her leg to stop her crying and she’d gasped as the blood on her knee had stopped oozing and the cut had stitched itself together right before their eyes, he’d known.

No-one looked at him funny, or avoided him, or thought he was a freak, seeing as he wasn’t the only one with such a gift, but they did marvel at him. He was one of the lucky ones. One of the gifted children, part of a new generation that were inexplicably being born with superhuman skills and talents.

Some kids in his class had been able to fly. One girl could make fire with a click of her fingers. When he was a teenager, he met a boy who could make himself invisible which was an ideal talent to be abused by a fifteen year old boy.

And Aaron could heal people: he liked that. He didn’t want any of the fancy, show-off gifts (as much as it looked like good fun to be able to fly far above the teacher’s head when he started yelling at you): he was proud of his gift. Because he could help other people.

When he was growing up, he’d used it all the time for all sorts of things: if a member of his family cut themselves, Aaron was able to stop the bleeding and heal the wound; when his best mate broke his leg, Aaron put the bone back together with just his touch. He’d learnt about his gift and how to use it as he’d matured, finding out everything about it as he succeeded and failed, and ended up suffering himself.

The bigger, or more serious, the injury, the more strength it required to heal and it sapped his energy. After he’d fixed Adam’s leg, he’d fallen asleep for nearly a whole day and his mum had been beside herself with worry that he’d never wake up. She’d warned him about not overdoing it but how was he supposed to do nothing if he could heal someone? If he had to rest for a few days afterwards or felt completely drained for a few hours, that was a small price to pay for helping someone escape their pain.

He’d wondered if he could heal people’s minds too. He’d desperately wanted to when his mum had been suffering from PTSD but that hadn’t worked and had just left him with a blinding migraine and no desire to try again.

Official looking people had turned up in the village once when Aaron was a teenager and spoken at length with his mum about him and his gift. They’d wanted to take him away: they’d wanted him to work for them. They’d told her what a great opportunity it was and how he could help so many. But Chas Dingle hadn’t come down in the last rain shower and she wasn’t about to let her son be carted off to be experimented on and used as some sort of ‘solution’ in a war zone or something else equally awful. She’d sent them packing and spent the rest of the evening passionately telling Aaron that he needed to be careful, protect his gift and never let anyone take advantage of him. And he’d always remembered that: he used it when he wanted to; when he knew he could help someone; when it was the right thing to do.

***

The cry of terror had been awful and it had brought people rushing out of their houses and the cafe to see what what going on.

Belle was lying on the floor in a heap, the car that had knocked her down stopped a few feet away from her, the driver looking shocked and pale.

Aaron rushed forward and the gathered crowd parted to let him through. He could hear someone on the phone to the emergency services but they all knew that Aaron was the best chance of her being healed.

Lisa was screaming and crying and begging Aaron to help her daughter and Aaron felt the weight of so many people’s hopes press down on him. Sometimes he wondered what would happen if he couldn’t do it, if he wasn’t enough to heal someone, but he never had time to dwell on that fear.

Falling to his knees alongside Belle’s prone body, he drew in a deep breath. She was badly injured: he didn’t need to have any medical knowledge to know that. Again it flashed through his mind that he might not be able to help, but he forced it to the side.

Placing one hand on Belle’s face and grabbing her hand with his other, he poured his energy into healing her injuries and fixing everything that was damaged. There was so much to repair within her small body: broken bones and internal injuries and cuts and scratches. One by one, he healed each hurt.

He didn’t even understand how it worked. It was like something within him sought out each damaged part of her body and went about fixing it. He never questioned it, just allowed his instincts to take over.

He knew he was beginning to tire. He could feel his shoulders slumping and his eyelids growing heavier, but he couldn’t stop. Belle was still in pain, still not fully healed. It was probably the worst set of injuries he’d ever had to heal and he knew he’d end up suffering for it, but he couldn’t stop. If he could save her, he would.

“Aaron! Aaron, love, stop!” He could hear his mum crying out to him, but she sounded so far away. His head hurt and then his chest felt like something had slammed into him and stolen his breath, and then he felt warmth dribbling from his nose, and he knew without seeing it that it was blood. But he wouldn’t stop.

He felt Belle moving beneath his hands. He saw her blinking up at him in shock and confusion and then concern. He heard his mum calling his name again and then he was falling.

He knew what was coming; he’d been here before. He knew he’d given too much, pushed himself too far, and he knew that he was going to be out for the count for a while. He knew he’d exhausted himself, drained his own energy to save someone else (again) and he’d completely weakened himself. The realisation flashed through his mind and he braced himself to crash to the ground or into someone’s waiting arms, but instead of the darkness of unconsciousness, he saw a glowing light moving towards him. He fought through his complete exhaustion to stay awake: he wanted to know what the light was. Not only could he see it, but he could feel it. Its presence warmed him somehow. It moved closer and then he felt it: pure, golden energy surrounding him and flowing into him.

A hand squeezed his own and he wondered how he was still awake.

“It’s okay,” a voice said right beside his ear. “Take what you need.”

And somehow Aaron knew what to do. Instinct took over again and he felt energy flooding through him, like he’d opened a gate and allowed whatever this feeling was to flow into him. It could have only lasted mere seconds but Aaron suddenly felt rejuvenated. He opened his eyes and blinked up at where the glowing energy had been. A man with blond hair and blue-green eyes stared down at him.

They gazed at one another for a long moment and then Aaron became aware of other people, other voices, his mum pushing her way forwards and crouching by his side.

The blond man shuffled back, stood up and stepped away, as Chas glared at him suspiciously, and Aaron wanted to reach out for him. He didn’t want him to go.

“Sweetheart, are you alright?” Chas asked as she patted his face and fussed. “How many times have I told you not to go so far? You’d done enough - you could’ve waited for the ambulance to come to do the rest.”

“Belle?” he asked, tearing his eyes away from the stranger and looking at his mum.

“She’s fine, love. Thanks to you. Hardly a scratch on her. But you shouldn’t risk yourself like that. I thought you were going to be in a right state for a minute there,” she trailed off, casting a quick glance up at the man who was still standing nearby watching. “What happened anyway?”

“I dunno,” Aaron replied honestly. He managed to shrug slightly before he started pushing himself upright off the floor. “I’m fine, Mum,” he batted her hands away as she tried to fuss around him. He was about to speak, to ask the stranger who he was or how he’d done what he had, but he was beaten to it.

“Robert?” Vic’s voice called through the crowd. “Oh my god, it is you!”

And then Victoria was practically flying into the man’s arms and squeezing him with all her might.

Aaron pushed himself up from the ground and only wobbled slightly as he did so. After what he’d done to help Belle, he should’ve been practically comatose but somehow he was upright and able to function. He stepped closer to Victoria and the man she was babbling at in excitement.

“What did you do to me?” he asked and then realised that was probably pretty rude seeing as the bloke had seemingly helped him out.

Vic was looking between them anxiously. “Rob? What’s going on?”

Robert shook his head quickly, defensively. “He’s a healer and he was running out of power. He was going to make himself ill,” he said like it was obvious.

“‘He would like to know what that’s got to do with you,” Aaron interrupted abruptly,not liking being spoken about as though he weren’t there, but not quite understanding why he was being quite so frosty towards the man who had appeared from nowhere and helped him. Maybe he just didn’t know if this Robert bloke was trustworthy. Why would he just step in to help a complete stranger like that? And he’d never liked anyone seeing his weaknesses.

Robert held his hands up and shrugged. “Just thought I was doing you a favour,” he said. “Didn’t realise it’d be such a problem.”

“What exactly did you do? And how?” Aaron asked. Despite his misgivings, he was curious.

Robert shrugged again. “I have a lot of...energy,” he said as he waved his hand around in front of himself. “Comes in handy when someone needs a boost.” Beside him, Aaron saw Victoria frown a little, but then Robert stepped away and she quickly moved with him. “I’ll keep my nose out of your business next time,” Robert added before he turned his back and started walking away, Vic following him and speaking rapidly to him as they went.

Aaron watched them go. He didn’t know what to make of Robert, but he had to admit he wanted to know more.


	2. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the positive feedback on the first chapter of this - it really encouraged me to continue.

Things were quiet for Aaron after he’d healed Belle and had the strange moment with Robert. Belle made a full recovery, Aaron had no ill-effects from something that should have had serious consequences, and Robert moved into the village.

That had been the most interesting thing really. It seemed like plenty of people wanted to gossip about the new man that had moved to Emmerdale. Victoria’s older brother who had returned from no-one quite knew where: she seemed delighted to have him back in the village.

Aaron still wondered about the coincidence that Robert had suddenly arrived at the exact moment when he could help. He didn’t know much about people whose gift was energy, but he’d found himself doing some research - purely for educational purposes, obviously - to try to understand what Robert had actually done to him. The problem was it seemed to be so simple - what he’d done was as instinctual to Robert as Aaron’s own healing gift was to him. It was part of him that he could control without even giving it any real thought. There was no reward or benefit Robert would gain from sharing his energy with someone else; in fact, he was much like Aaron, in that if he gave too much, he’d be the one who suffered.

Aaron had wondered why Robert would step in to help a complete stranger, but then realised that he’d done the same himself many times before, so maybe Robert was genuine and just wanted to help.

They hadn’t had any further interactions apart from apparently accidentally catching one another’s eye across the street or in the pub. It was weird - Aaron felt some sort of pull forwards Robert but he didn’t know why. And he was trying his best to ignore it.

Unfortunately his plan didn’t work. It was hard to completely ignore someone as good looking as Robert. He couldn’t help the fact that he was attracted to Robert. And the man seemed to practically glow - whenever Aaron caught sight of him, he felt like there was something warm rushing over him. Even though they’d only shared one brief, strange conversation, he felt oddly connected to Robert somehow.

Their paths were bound to cross again sooner rather than later.

***

Aaron had just left the club. He’d gone to Leeds for a night out, partly to get away from his mum and her interfering and partly in the hope of hooking up with someone. The first part of his plan had been successful, but finding a bloke had been less so. There just hadn’t been anyone out that had grabbed his attention. At one point, he’d seen a tall, blond haired guy from behind and his thoughts had immediately wandered to Robert. When the man had turned around, Aaron had squinted and tried his best to make himself see a similarity there so he could summon some interest but the bloke was a poor substitute and he’d given up in the end.

Robert was under his skin. He was an itch he couldn’t scratch. And the worst thing was, he didn’t even know why. It was ridiculous to be so hung up on someone after such a bizarre and brief meeting.

He walked out of the club, hands shoved into his coat pockets, and headed for the taxi rank. He hadn’t made it far along the street when he heard what sounded like someone stumbling around in an alleyway as he passed. He stopped and looked into the dimly lit space, trying to establish if someone was down there needing help or just pissed up.

His mouth might have flapped open a little when Robert staggered out of the alleyway, straightening his shirt, nose bloodied. At least Robert seemed to be equally as stunned to see Aaron standing there.

Aaron recovered first. “What...what are you doing?”

Robert wiped at his bloody nose and averted his eyes. “Keeping my nose out of other people’s business.”

“Looks like it,” Aaron replied sarcastically. “What happened to you?”

Robert shrugged slightly. “Got on the wrong side of the wrong person.” His words were casual but he looked more shaken than he was letting on.

Aaron took a step closer and Robert’s eyes snapped up to track his movements. He was definitely rattled, Aaron decided.

“Let me see,” he said.

“I’m fine,” Robert replied, but the blood was still dribbling from his nose and it looked painfully swollen, bruising already developing across the bridge.

“Don’t be a dick,” Aaron said and he stepped closer again. He scrunched up his own nose as he got a closer look at Robert’s: it was clearly broken. “I can help.”

“I said, I’m fine,” Robert repeated.

“Well if you want to have a wonky nose for the rest of your life, that’s your decision,” Aaron told him.

Robert narrowed his eyes at him, but seemed to be convinced by the possibility of being disfigured. Slowly, he lowered his hands.

Aaron nodded at him and closed the final distance between them. He stepped into Robert’s space and looked up at him. For just a moment he forgot what he was meant to be doing as he gazed into Robert’s eyes. It seemed like Robert had momentarily forgotten his discomfort too.

Clearing his throat and focusing back on the task at hand, Aaron carefully placed his hand on Robert’s cheek. Robert’s eyelids fell closed and he almost seemed to lean into the touch.

Aaron focused on allowing his healing power to rush to the surface of his mind and body, and then he blew out a long breath as he felt it flow out of his hand and into Robert. He sighed in contentment (something he’d never done before when healing someone) as he felt Robert’s body reacting to his touch - he had no idea where his reactions were coming from, but he didn’t question it. As always, he allowed instinct to take over.

Robert’s eyes fluttered open and he blinked at Aaron with an almost dreamy expression on his face before he winced slightly as the bones in his nose realigned. The bleeding stopped instantly and the bruising started to fade.

Something passed between them. Aaron didn’t know what it was; it didn’t look like Robert had any clue either. Aaron’s hand was still on Robert’s face even though his nose was completely healed.

The next thing Aaron knew, Robert had surged forwards and was kissing him desperately. He grabbed Aaron’s waist and spun them before pressing Aaron against the cold bricks behind him. And Aaron gasped and pushed back against Robert - not to force him away, but to give as good as he was getting. Whatever passion Robert was feeling, Aaron matched it with his own fervent need to kiss and touch and feel Robert.

Aaron felt the thrill of something powerful racing up his spine. He knew without knowing that it was something to do with their connection - a connection he didn’t understand and couldn’t explain - and he never wanted the feeling to end. He tore his mouth away panting as something pleasantly shocking zinged through him, across his skin and under it, and then he realised it had originated from where one of Robert’s large hands had slipped beneath his jumper and caressed the skin of his hip.

Robert looked equally as startled and for a moment he stared a little cross-eyed at Aaron, like he was drifting on a high as he tried to catch his breath.

“Back to mine?” he murmured against Aaron’s neck as he pressed in close again and breathed against the flesh beneath his ear.

Aaron was practically vibrating with want. He nodded his answer as his hand twisted into the hair at the back of Robert’s head.

‘God, yes,’ he thought to himself.

***

“So...why did someone punch you in the face tonight anyway?” Aaron asked as he pulled his jeans back on. He felt almost awkward now that they’d finished rolling around in Robert’s bed. It wasn’t the first one-night stand he’d had, but this felt different somehow - he didn’t know why, and he didn’t know if it was good different or bad different.

They’d gone back to Robert’s - the taxi ride a complete blur of building tension between them as they’d tried to keep their hands to themselves - and fallen through his front door already wrapped up in one another. A desperate desire that Aaron had never felt before had been coursing through him and the feeling of want that Robert felt had been almost rolling off him in waves. There was something tangible between them that made the air around them seem to crackle and hum, and Aaron had been completely swept along with it.

After they’d both collapsed, sweaty and sated on Robert’s bed, Aaron had caught his breath and immediately started reaching for his boxers. They’d had a great time - a really, really great time, possibly the best time that Aaron had ever had (not that he was about to share that) - but he wasn’t one to outstay his welcome and his mind was racing. The way Robert had made him feel was more than just sex. They’d caught each other’s eye more than once while they’d been in Robert’s bed, and the look they’d shared told Aaron that Robert felt it too. Something about them, or maybe their gifts, was extremely compatible. Aaron had gasped in sheer pleasure more than once at a spark of something across his skin when Robert touched him, and Robert’s eyes had rolled back in his head as Aaron’s fingers traced a pattern on his flesh.

Aaron had never felt anything like it - it was intense, and a little scary.

He looked at Robert through his eyelashes as he zipped up, wondering if he’d get any response to his question, or if Robert had fallen asleep.

Robert shrugged a little. He’d made no attempt to move from his position in his bed and Aaron was wondering if he’d made a bad decision by getting up so hastily. It was rather tempting to get back into bed with him.

“Wrong place at the wrong time,” Robert said simply.

Aaron frowned. “Someone punched you and broke your nose just because you were there?”

Robert shrugged again.

Aaron scowled at him. He didn’t know why it even mattered, but he wanted to know what was going on. “You’re lying,” he stated.

Robert actually sat up at his words. “Wow, are you always this rude to people you’ve just shagged?”

Aaron’s mouth flapped open and then he closed it abruptly. He supposed he was being a bit nosey, prying into Robert’s business, but he couldn’t seem to help it. “I healed you,” he said simply. “Doesn’t that mean I deserve an explanation?”

“Um, no,” Robert replied bluntly. “One fixed nose does not mean I have to explain myself to you.”

“Fine.” Aaron grabbed his jumper from the floor and pulled it on. “I don’t care anyway. See you around.” With that, he stomped out of Robert’s bedroom, grabbing his shoes that he’d kicked off on their way to the room earlier and shoving them on his feet as he went. It wasn’t a very dignified exit, but he was pissed off and his head was suddenly pounding so he just wanted to get back home and bury himself under his own duvet so he could pretend to not think about Robert, when actually he knew he’d be doing nothing but think about him and what had happened between them.

“Wait!” Robert called out from the doorway of his bedroom.

Aaron turned to him, trying not to let his eyes roam too obviously over Robert as he stood there in just his hastily pulled on boxers.

“Don’t go - not like this,” Robert said more quietly. He looked unsure of himself, and a bit bewildered, and that made Aaron feel better somehow. Maybe he wasn’t the only one that was feeling weird.

Robert looked down at the carpet and scratched at his thigh. “I didn’t want to say why I got punched - it’s kind of embarrassing.”

Aaron waited, silently telling Robert to continue.

The other man blew out a long breath and his shoulders slumped.

“I’d gone outside with some bloke to...well, you know what I mean,” he looked up at Aaron and Aaron arched an eyebrow at him. He was less than impressed at the idea that moments before they’d bumped into one another, not all that long before they’d ended up in bed together, Robert had been in an alleyway with another man.

“But it didn’t go so well. He was...well, he was more interested in getting high than anything else.”

Aaron frowned in confusion. “What?”

Robert sighed heavily. “He wanted me to...do my thing and give him a boost.”

Realisation dawned on Aaron. The man had wanted Robert’s energy, which was weird and made Aaron’s skin crawl at the thought of it. Just because someone had a gift, that didn’t mean they should have their powers exploited.

“I told him I wasn’t interested - didn’t really go for that sort of thing and it’s not like I’m some performing monkey that just turns it on when someone asks - and he got pissed off.” Robert shrugged like it didn’t matter. “Started going on about how loads of people did it and it wasn’t a big deal, so I told him to go find someone else if it was that easy. Ended up punching me in the face and walking off, the wanker.”

A surge of anger rushed through Aaron, accompanied by a sense of protectiveness that he’d only ever experienced before in relation to his own family. The idea that someone had hurt Robert, and for that reason, was unacceptable.

“It’s not embarrassing,” he said quietly, when he’d managed to calm his thoughts.

Robert looked up at him and frowned in confusion. “What?”

“Before...you said you didn’t want to tell me what had happened because it was embarrassing, but it’s not. It wasn’t your fault and that bloke, whoever he was, was a dick. He was out of order.”

Robert shrugged again. “I’m not exactly the only one who’s ever had some arsehole trying it on with their weird kinks about gifts.”

The feeling of wanting to look out for Robert rose to the surface again and Aaron suddenly closed the gap between them. Robert looked up at him as he approached and they held eye contact. All of a sudden they were close enough to touch again. It was like they’d been drawn together.

“He assaulted you,” Aaron said and he felt like he had to force himself not to reach up to touch Robert’s face like he’d done earlier on when he’d healed his nose. He didn’t know what was happening to him but every part of him was telling him that whatever it was, it was alright.

“Good job you were there with your healing hands then,” Robert murmured, a cocky half-smile on his face.

Aaron rolled his eyes at Robert’s flirtatious teasing. “You need to be more careful about who you go off with,” he insisted.

“I went off with you,” Robert pointed out.

“That’s different,” Aaron immediately replied. “You know me.”

And as weird as it was, and despite the fact that they didn’t really know one another at all, it felt like he was speaking the truth.

Robert’s smile widened as he leant forward a little into Aaron’s space. “I’d like to know you more,” he said quietly.

“Cheesy,” Aaron replied with a soft laugh.

“Yet true,” Robert murmured.

Aaron looked into his eyes. His headache was forgotten, the annoyance of mere minutes ago had dissipated.

There was a moment when neither of them moved and then they were pressed together again. As their lips met, Robert’s hands immediately slid into Aaron’s hair; Aaron’s gripped Robert’s hips, his thumbs grazing the warm skin above the waistband of his underwear. That spark was there again. Tearing their lips apart at the feeling, their eyes met for a moment, both of them smiling knowingly, and then their lips met again.


	3. 3

After the evening that Aaron healed Robert’s nose, they became fairly inseparable. Something had pulled them together, and it seemed like they were meant to be in each other’s lives. 

It seemed almost natural that they fit together. They seemed to complete each other somehow: it wasn’t something that they ever spoke about - they didn’t need to. It was part of them, like their gifts.

If Aaron had healed someone and was feeling the after-effects, however mild, Robert instinctively seemed to know and was always there to help him recover.

Sometimes it was something simple that Aaron had healed: a scald from a kettle, or a finger trapped in a door. Other times he’d heal a broken bone or someone who’d been knocked out in an accident. While Robert was drawn to Aaron after he’d healed someone, Aaron seemed to sense when a person needed help and found himself there beside them without even realising where he was going, just knowing someone needed him. Stranger or family member or someone from the village, it was almost like Aaron heard them call out subconsciously and went to their aid.

When Robert found him, he’d give Aaron whatever energy he needed to restore his strength and then help him back home. Then he’d frown and start lecturing Aaron about how he shouldn’t keep healing people without any thought for his own health. Aaron would roll his eyes and tell Robert he sounded like his mum and Robert would get even more frustrated with him.

And they’d inevitably end up arguing about it. They argued a lot actually - both of them stubborn and difficult and too scared to admit how much they cared about one another.

Chas had asked Aaron why they even bothered if all they did was bicker, but Aaron had given her a look as if to say ‘You of all people should know that that’s where the passion comes from’. Because for every squabble or argument, there was the making up and the soft moments behind closed doors when they really did start opening up to one another and it made it all worthwhile.

Robert didn’t like the fact that Aaron was so willing to risk his own safety to help everyone else. Originally, he made out like it was because he was selfish and didn’t want to have to traipse around after Aaron picking up the pieces when he’d pushed himself too far. They’d had such a huge row after it that Aaron had been sure they were over. He’d moped around at the pub and then he’d got pissed off and taken out his frustrations on some scrap up at the yard and then he’d moped a bit more, snapping and grunting at anyone who got close enough to ask if he was alright.

But then he’d realised, after days of not speaking to one another and seeing Robert looking completely dejected around the village (matching his own mood), that actually it was so much more than what Robert was letting on.

“We need to talk,” Aaron said bluntly as he walked up to Robert in the street.

They’d been avoiding one another for days but the separation couldn’t go on. Aaron didn’t know how Robert felt, but apart from the heartache of being separated, he’d just not felt right since they’d been ignoring one another. Since their fight, he’d felt wrong in his own skin somehow: his head had been constantly aching; something felt twisted inside him. Just standing closer to Robert than he had in days eased some of the uncomfortable ache in his body.

Robert looked at him steadily and drew in a deep, shuddery breath. Aaron couldn’t help but think he looked terrible - tired and strained and the glow that Aaron was sure he always saw around Robert was faded, his skin paler than usual.

“Yeah, we do,” he replied just as bluntly.

Aaron nodded his head in the direction of the pub and then walked off in that direction, hands stuffed into his jacket pockets, not checking if Robert was following him, but knowing that he would be.

When they made their way into the back room, Aaron turned around and leant against the kitchen counter. Robert stood in the doorway facing him, waiting.

“I’m not going to apologise,” Aaron told him gruffly.

Robert shrugged. “I wasn’t expecting you to. I’m not going to either if that’s what you’re after.”

Aaron huffed out a sigh and rolled his eyes. “Strangely enough, I didn’t think you would.”

“Then why are we here? Why are we bothering?” Robert asked, but he didn’t look like he wanted to give up and walk away; he looked like he genuinely wanted an answer, a solution.

They both stared at one another across the room - the physical space seeming like too much despite them being closer, for longer, than they had been in days.

“Because...I think you feel the way I do,” Aaron eventually said. He wasn’t good at talking - he usually said the wrong thing, or just didn’t know how to explain what he wanted to say properly and made things worse, but he was trying. It was worth it. “It’s been horrible since we had that fight.”

Nodding slowly, Robert agreed with him. “It has - I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too,” Aaron replied quietly. He wanted to go to Robert, close the distance between them and forget about arguments and time apart, but he should’ve known that things couldn’t ever be simple.

“Why did we have the fight in the first place?” Robert asked suddenly. “Do you even understand why I was angry?”

Aaron threw his hands up and rolled his eyes again. “Why do you want to go over it again? We’re just going to have the same row as before. Just let it go.”

“I’m not going to ‘just let it go’. You...you can’t keep healing people randomly like it’s no big deal, like it doesn’t effect you.”

“If this is about you not wanting to feel obliged to help me out afterwards, that’s fine. I get it. I’m not expecting you to come running every time I help someone,” Aaron replied. “I can look after myself. I know what I’m doing.”

Robert shook his head in frustration. “You don’t get it! I don’t care about that. If you weren’t so bloody stubborn, maybe you’d realise: I’m worried about you.”

Aaron’s eyes widened a little at the admission. “You don’t need to be.”

“Of course I do,” Robert replied immediately. “That’s what you do when you’re in a relationship with someone, especially someone as stubborn and selfless and reckless as you. What if you heal someone and it takes too much out of you? I know you’ve done it before - your mum told me. And that’s what happened the day we met, remember? What if you go too far? What if I’m not there to help you?”

He seemed genuinely distressed by the idea and Aaron suddenly saw the truth. He’d been wrong about thinking Robert was being selfish, about thinking he just didn’t want to run around after him picking up the pieces. Robert wasn’t selfish and he wasn’t annoyed about having to help Aaron: he cared about Aaron, a lot, and was fearful about what might happen if he wasn’t there to help him recover.

He closed the gap between them, walking across the room slowly and stopping in front of Robert.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. Robert blinked at him in surprise before Aaron continued. “Not about healing people. I’ll always want to help if I can - it’s part of me. But I’m sorry that I didn’t understand how you felt...that I assumed the worst of you instead of seeing that you actually care about me.”

Robert looked down at his feet, like he was embarrassed that Aaron had seen his true feelings. Neither of them were very good at talking about this stuff.

“I’m always going to want to heal other people if I think I can help them,” Aaron continued softly. “I have this gift for a reason and I have to use it to make things better. But I’ll try to be more careful.”

Finally, Robert looked up at him and gazed into his eyes. It was like he was trying to make sense of something there, trying to understand. Eventually, he nodded. Then he pushed Aaron gently towards the sofa and they sat down, side by side.

They’d talked some more: it had been one of those difficult conversations that neither of them were particularly good at. But they’d done it and they were better for it. Not perfect, but better.

Or at least they had been.

***

Aaron wandered into the back room and found Robert sitting at the table with a leaflet in his hand.

“What’s this?” Robert asked as he looked up at Aaron. His face was carefully blank.

Aaron knew what it was that Robert was holding and he was already braced for an argument. “You’ve obviously already read it, so why are you asking?”

Robert raised an eyebrow at him. “Just wondering why you’ve got it.”

“They were giving them out in town,” he replied shortly, purposefully avoiding answering the real questions that Robert hadn’t asked: why do you have it? And what are you thinking?

“Don’t see why you decided to keep it. It’s not like you’re going to be heading off to some military base to be a healer in the field,” Robert said, like the mere suggestion was ridiculous.

And it was. Aaron wasn’t actually considering it, not really. He’d sometimes wondered if he should be using his gift to help more people, or working somewhere he could really make a difference instead of healing cuts and bruises in Emmerdale, but he wouldn’t sign up to the army on a whim and his mum’s words from when he was a kid always stuck in his mind. He didn’t want anyone taking advantage of him, or attempting to control his power. But Robert’s arrogant assumption that he wouldn’t be going anywhere riled him up. Wasn’t Robert telling him what to do just as bad as some stranger?

His eyebrow rose and he huffed out a dry laugh. “And what if that’s exactly what I want to do?”

Robert’s nostrils flared at his words and Aaron couldn’t help the thrill of pleasure that rushed through him at getting a rise out of the other man. Apart from general bickering, they hadn’t argued properly for a while - not since they’d spent days apart sulking and then come to a truce of sorts. Aaron hadn’t actually needed to heal anyone for weeks and maybe that was why they hadn’t had any more heated discussions. Aaron knew that Robert still wasn’t happy about his attitude towards his healing, but had been trying to keep his opinions about it to himself to avoid an argument: the fact he hadn’t needed to use his gift had helped keep the peace between them. But this latest development - what should have been an innocent enough piece of rubbish that was thrown away as soon as Aaron got home - was like a red rag to a bull. It seemed like Robert had been waiting for any sign that Aaron was willing to put himself at risk so he could launch into another rant about his foolish decisions.

“You can’t be serious,” Robert said as he shook his head.

“Why not?” Aaron retorted. “Someone like me could do a lot of good.”

Robert scoffed at the words. “Someone like you? You sound like you’ve already been brainwashed by this bloody propaganda.” He waved the offending leaflet at Aaron as he spoke.

“I could help,” Aaron argued. “More than I do just sitting around here waiting for someone to fall over and need their knee healing.”

Robert pushed himself up from his chair and narrowed his eyes at Aaron slightly. “You already do enough. You’ve helped so many people here - you don’t need to go to a war-zone to prove yourself.”

“It’s not about that,” Aaron replied. “You wouldn’t understand - your gift’s not the same as mine.”

Robert shook his head. “Why because mine doesn’t make everyone love me? It doesn’t make me a hero?”

“That’s not why I do it,” Aaron snapped. What had started as mild irritation was developing into something nastier, but he didn’t think he could stop it now. “But there’s nothing wrong with wanting to help people and make a difference.”

“There’s making a difference and there’s being a martyr,” Robert muttered and Aaron’s jaw clenched at his words. “You needn’t think I’m going to be traipsing all over the world after you just so I can top you up when you overdo it,” Robert added.

“I wouldn’t expect you to,” Aaron told him. “I know you don’t like doing that. I never asked you to do it in the first place - that was all your own doing, thinking you know best and interfering.”

Robert’s eyes widened, a mixture of shock and anger. “I thought you of all people would understand the desire to ‘help’ someone out, seeing as that’s what you’re so keen to do even if it means getting yourself killed.”

“Well I don’t need your help,” Aaron bit back. “And don’t be so dramatic - I’m not going to get myself killed. I managed perfectly well for years before you came along and I’ll manage fine without you.”

Robert looked well and truly pissed off. “Don’t you see why this matters? Don’t you understand? You don’t know how much damage you’re doing to yourself every time you help someone else. What if you go too far? You love playing the bloody hero, saving the day, but I’m not sure how long you can keep this up and I’m not willing to watch you keep doing it.”

Aaron drew in a sharp breath at the words. It sounded a lot like Robert was breaking up with him. And it hurt. For a moment, he wanted to stop talking, sink down onto the sofa and just put his head in his hands. He wanted Robert to wrap his arms around him and tell him they’d be alright. He wanted them to sit down and just say how they really felt without being stubborn and stupid and pretending that they didn’t love one another.

But that’s not what happened. He pushed through the pain, clenched his jaw and seized on the anger that had been brewing since the conversation had started.

“Well don’t watch then,” he snapped. “No-one’s making you stick around. Sure, it was nice to have a boost when I was getting drained, but I don’t need you.”

Robert seemed stunned into silence and frozen in place. He blinked a few times at Aaron and then grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair he’d been sitting on. As he stepped around Aaron, he turned his head to look at him. “Nice to know how much I mean to you.”

Aaron’s heart stuttered at the words and he panicked a little. What he’d said hadn’t come out right: he hadn’t meant it to sound so harsh. He’d been angry and, if he was being honest, he’d wanted to say something that would get a reaction from Robert. It was petty and nasty and he’d used the one thing he knew would hurt him most. They were both good at that.

“Robert...” he started, but he was cut off before he could continue.

“No. I think we’ve both said enough. I just wish I’d realised before now that you only wanted me around so you could get high off my energy.”

Aaron sucked in a sharp breath at his words. They weren’t the truth - nowhere close to it - and Aaron knew that surely Robert couldn’t really believe it. But he was hurt and he was lashing out.

The night that they’d started seeing one another, Robert had been left with a broken nose by someone looking to abuse his gift, wanting to get high on his energy, and despite Robert trying to play it down, Aaron knew it had unsettled him. And now he’d basically claimed that Aaron was treating him the same way - it stung and Aaron was half upset over their row and half pissed at Robert for being such a knob and accusing him of something that was blatantly untrue.

‘He knows that’s not why we’re together. He must know,’ Aaron kept thinking to himself as he hovered uncertainly in the back room and heard the back door slam shut as Robert left.

Hesitating, he wondered if he should go after Robert, but then decided to give him chance to cool down. Their argument had spiralled before either of them had realised what was happening, and by the time they had, it was too late. Chasing after Robert now would probably just result in them getting more wound up, both saying something else they didn’t mean, and hurting them both even more in the process.

Sighing heavily, he finally slumped down onto the sofa. Something was thumping inside his head and he knew enough to recognise that it was linked to the fact that Robert had stormed out and they’d argued again.

The leaflet attempting to recruit people who had gifts lay crumpled on the table and Aaron cursed himself for even accepting it from the guy in town in the first place. He rubbed his hand across his face and pressed his head back against the sofa. He didn’t know how he and Robert were ever going to reconcile their differing opinions about Aaron’s healing. All he knew was that they had to try: he didn’t want to give up on them.


	4. 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the feedback so far - it’s really encouraged me to keep going!

Aaron’s frustration, and the fact that he didn’t know how to deal with the situation with Robert, led him to grab his running gear and heading out. It was getting late, already dark outside, but he needed to clear his head and burn off some energy: maybe running with his music blasting in his ears and nothing else to focus on for a while would provide him with some clarity.

He loved Robert. At least that was one thing he knew. He’d never told Robert that though and maybe that was part of the problem. Robert didn’t understand that Aaron wanted to be with him, not because he was the one person who could help him recover after he’d healed someone, but because he was the one for him. In his own head it sounded kind of cheesy and he winced a little just at the idea of telling Robert that, but it was true. Robert didn’t know and Aaron was already thinking that maybe if he told him the truth, shared what was in his heart instead of trying to pretend it didn’t matter, things might become easier. He’d have to get Robert to talk to him first though and he knew he still needed to give him chance to cool down before that would happen.

With a vague solution developing in his head, Aaron left the pub and headed out to the main road. He’d not got far, not even got going really, when he heard someone shouting his name. He turned to find Victoria walking towards him purposefully.

“What’ve you done to Robert?” she asked as soon as she was close enough.

Aaron just raised an eyebrow at her and she rolled her eyes.

“Fine,” she said, waving her hands in front of her. “I know he’s probably just as much to blame as you are, but he’s been like a bear with a sore head all afternoon.”

“We had words,” Aaron told her simply. It wasn’t uncommon for them and it seemed like they couldn’t escape well-meaning, somewhat interfering, family members sticking their noses in as soon as they’d had a row.

Vic huffed and folded her arms across her chest. “Well he’s adamant that he’s going into town in a bit and the mood he’s in I get the feeling he’s likely to get himself into trouble so I’m going with him to keep an eye on him.”

Aaron’s stomach had flipped horribly at her words. Was Robert going out to prove that he didn’t need Aaron, just like he felt Aaron had brushed him off? Was he planning to go out on the pull to teach Aaron a lesson? The thought hurt and Aaron didn’t know whether he was more angry or upset about the news. It would be typical Robert to do something rash and think of the consequences later.

He didn’t know what to say to Vic. Half of him wanted to march over to find Robert and tell him what an idiot he was being, while the other half couldn’t help but feel bitter and rejected and just so hurt that he couldn’t even face speaking to him.

He shrugged like he didn’t care, when his head was pounding again and his stomach was churning.

“Yeah, well, good luck keeping him out of trouble,” he replied, looking down at his trainers to avoid the knowing look that would no doubt be on Vic’s face.

“Oi,” she said, whacking him on the arm. “You know he’s mad about you. He’s all talk. Whatever’s gone on between you two, this is all just his way of pretending he doesn’t care. He’s licking his wounds and sulking, but you know he wouldn’t go out and cheat on you or something.”

“Maybe not now you’re going to be there to make sure,” Aaron grumbled.

That earned him another, slightly harder, smack on the arm. “He cares about you,” Vic insisted. “And I know you’re mad at him, or you’ve had some epic falling out - again - but you’re both as bad as one another. You’re too stubborn the pair of you. Let him cool off; you do the same. Then you’d better sort this out because you’re made for one another.”

Aaron felt a tiny smile tug at his lips at her words and he nodded once before she smiled and walked away leaving him to his run.

As he set off, he couldn’t help but worry that Robert would somehow end up shaking Vic off so he could go off with some random just to get back at him, to hurt Aaron like he’d hurt Robert. Obviously Vic didn’t know what they’d argued about, but it was pretty clear that Robert felt like Aaron was in the wrong. And ultimately Aaron’s words had hurt him, whether he was trying to pretend they hadn’t or not. And knowing Robert, he was highly likely to lash out to soothe his pain, even for the tiniest of moments.

He shook his head. He had to believe that Robert wouldn’t do that to him. The idea hurt too much: the reality would be unbearable.

***

Aaron had been out running for a long time. He’d stopped off for a bit at the bridge on the way back to the village and just taken some time to think and let himself relax. The run had helped: it had cleared his head a bit and given him some much needed space, away from his mum and her nosey questions, and the noise and fuss of the pub. He’d considered calling Robert and asking him to come back to the village so they could talk but decided to let him have his space too. Maybe Robert’s evening out with Vic would give him a chance to see things more clearly too: Aaron could only hope.

Despite feeling better, he still didn’t feel right. Whenever he and Robert argued or spent time apart for some reason that was negative in some way, Aaron started to feel odd. It usually started with a headache and then his stomach would sometimes feel odd and he just generally didn’t feel like he could settle. The feeling had washed over him as soon as Robert had stormed out earlier in the evening and hadn’t gone away all night. But as he briskly walked back towards the pub, letting himself cool down as he went, something felt even worse inside. Something twisted in his gut and sent his heart racing and for a moment he worried that it was to do with Robert, but then he realised someone was hurt. He’d always been able to sense it somehow, just a little niggle telling him that someone needed help, but this was different: this was far worse. Someone was hurt - badly. Without even knowing where he was going, or what he might find, his feet carried him back to the village at a run. As he approached, his eyes widened in horror at the sight of flames billowing out of the roof of the pub.

His mum. Paddy. The rest of his family. What if they were still inside?

He raced down the street towards the crowd of bewildered and scared people gathered a little further down the road from the Woolpack. Scanning the frightened faces, he desperately searched for the people he cared about.

“Cain!” he yelled when he saw his uncle. “What happened? Where’s my mum?”

Cain blinked at him a few times, his face covered in black soot and his eyes red and sore. “Explosion,” he grunted. “Dunno what happened. The place just went up. We got people out but some of them are really badly hurt. Good job you’re here.”

Aaron drew in a deep breath and tried to prepare himself for what would inevitably be an assault on his entire being. Glancing around, he could see people in various states of distress: some injured; some there to help, obviously hearing the explosion and coming to the aid of the other villagers. But until the paramedics arrived, Aaron was the only one who could really help. Without realising he was doing it, he scanned the crowd for Robert. He needed his help and he knew that Robert would have given him whatever assistance he could. But then he immediately remembered their argument from earlier in the day and the fact thatRobert was nowhere near the village. It flashed through his mind that he was glad; if Robert wasn’t there, it meant he was far away from any danger there might be and he wasn’t going to be one of the people lying in the street in pain. But it also meant that Aaron was alone: he’d have to deal with this himself. He could do it: he’d done it before, long before he’d come to rely on Robert and his energy and his caring hands and face when Aaron was drained and struggling to hold his own head up any longer. He shook the thoughts from his head - he needed to focus.

He still hadn’t located his mum or Paddy, the two people he was most concerned about, but then he heard a shout, someone yelling his name desperately and something in him lurched at the realisation that it was Marlon calling for him and waving wildly to summon him over.

Rushing over, dodging the crowd that were spread around, he soon understood why Marlon was shouting for him.

“Mum!” he cried as he fell to his knees beside her prone form.

She was unconscious, her face covered in soot, scrapes and cuts all over her skin.

“She was at the bar when the explosion happened. I don’t know what happened, but I heard screaming from the bar. I managed to get through the rubble and found her - she hasn’t woken up. I dragged her out but she’s not moving. You’ve gotta help her, Aaron,” Marlon babbled.

And Aaron knew that: he didn’t need Marlon’s terrified face or his desperate words. It was his mum and he was going to save her.

For a split second, he pictured Robert’s reaction to words like ‘you’ve got to help her’ and he knew he’d hate it; knew he’d be angry at the assumption that Aaron had to sacrifice himself for everyone else. But it wasn’t a sacrifice if he wanted to do it, was it? Angry at Robert and his stupid feelings and ideas for getting in the way of what he knew he had to do, Aaron laid his hands on his mum’s body: one on her face, the other on the V of skin beneath her throat.

It was instantaneous. His healing gift rose to the surface of his being like always. It rushed through him and towards his hands like it was sentient and knew exactly what it needed to do: Aaron was merely the way it travelled to its destination.

He could sense the injuries his mother had, the pain that her body was suffering. His power set about healing her. There didn’t seem to be any rules to how it worked. The smallest cuts on her face knitted together before his eyes, healing over leaving just the faintest of pink lines before they were hardly visible at all. But while that seemingly small miracle was taking place, Aaron could feel his gift searching out the biggest of her injuries and starting to heal them.

Chas’ breathing was shallow and Aaron knew her ribs were broken. One of them had punctured her lung and he pushed forward with his power to fix the fractured bones. It took a surge of strength to do it and he wasn’t sure whether he heard or saw, or just felt, the moment the damaged ribs were restored to their natural position. A second rush of energy worked on repairing her damaged lung and suddenly his mum gasped and drew in a sharp breath. Her eyes fluttered open and she blinked up at Aaron in confusion. She winced as he healed the bruising to her stomach.

“Aaron?” she rasped out.

He didn’t know what she wanted to say and he suddenly found he couldn’t concentrate. The familiar sensation of feeling exhausted washed over him and he released his hold on her, knowing that he’d healed her, saved her life, and he didn’t need to do anymore for her. She could be looked over at the hospital but he was confident that she was going to be alright.

Slumping backwards, his hands hit the concrete behind him to hold himself up and he forced his eyes to stay open. He felt weak, like he could fall to the ground and sleep right there, but he battled against it. There were other people who needed help.

Staggering a little, he pushed himself to his feet. He looked down at his mum, her eyes were falling shut but her breathing was steady, her face relaxed and, apart from the black ash all over her skin, she looked completely fine. Marlon would look after her until the ambulance arrived.

“Aaron!”

A desperate voice screamed his name and he wobbled on his feet a little as he spun around. His head swam horribly and his body felt heavy as he squinted over towards Rhona who was crying and looking to him imploringly.

Making his feet move in her direction seemed like an awfully difficult task, but once he’d got enough momentum going, he managed to walk unsteadily towards her.

Something was wrong. His gift was screaming inside him. It had been desperate to act as soon as he’d seen the destruction to the pub as he’d ran back to the village, but he’d thought it would fade a little after he’d healed his mum. Someone else he cared about must have been hurt: that was the only time he felt like he did in that moment.

“It’s Paddy!” Rhona cried as he approached. “The firemen just pulled him out. He was trapped. It’s awful. Oh god, I think he’s dying.” She sobbed into her hands but turned around and Aaron followed her gaze to where Paddy was lying on the ground, one of the fire crew kneeling beside him but no sign of any paramedics.

Paddy was horribly injured. Burns marked his neck and covered his right arm and leg; his clothes had melted into the flesh and he had blisters all over his skin. He hardly looked to be breathing at all, but as Aaron’s legs finally gave out and he collapsed beside him, he could hear the rasp as he drew in pained little gasps of air.

Tears pooled in Aaron’s eyes just at the sight of him. The man he loved like a father, who had been a better dad to him than Aaron’s actual father, was lying in front of him dying.

Aaron couldn’t let it happen.

He was already drained: Chas’ injuries had been bad and it had taken a lot of energy to heal her. But how could he sit there and do nothing? How could he live with himself if he didn’t use his gift to help one of the most important people in his life? He had hardly anything left, but he had to try. He had to do whatever it took to save Paddy - no matter the cost to himself.

His hands were shaking - he hadn’t even realised - as he stretched them out to Paddy. He grabbed his uninjured hand and then laid his other one over Paddy’s forehead. He willed his gift to come to the surface and a moment later it did. It felt more sluggish than usual, the energy taking longer to rush to the surface, but it came anyway. Something inside him had been telling him he needed to help those he loved and it seemed his depleted power still wanted to do just that.

He grunted a little as he began to heal Paddy’s injuries. He knew he didn’t have much strength left and what remained was draining rapidly. It was a slow process; he felt like his gift was crawling through him and out to Paddy instead of rushing outwards like it always had before.

Paddy’s airway was burned, damaged horrifically, and Aaron knew he needed to heal that first. He reached out with his power and soothed the burns inside Paddy’s throat. It took longer than he’d have liked, but he felt hope rush through him when Paddy pulled in a clear, long breath for the first time since Aaron had arrived. His throat was still damaged and Aaron’s gift seemed to have latched onto the injury, doing whatever it could to heal it completely.

Suddenly, Aaron felt his own throat feel painful. He gasped a little as he lifted a shaky hand to it and pressed against it. He forced himself to stay calm, to just keep breathing, but he felt out of breath, like he’d been the one that had inhaled smoke. But Paddy was still so badly hurt. He was finally breathing more easily but the burns were horrific. He might have been breathing but Aaron knew that burns like that could quite easily kill him.

It took him a moment to drag his gift away from Paddy’s throat and direct it towards the burns. His eyes were so sore and he battled to keep them open as he swayed where he was kneeling.

“Aaron?” Rhona called to him. She sounded a long way away. “Aaron, are you alright? Maybe you should stop.” Her voice sounded like he was underwater and she was speaking to him. He shook his head and gritted his teeth, not having the energy to lift his head to look at her. He had to do this: he could do this.

“C’mon, Paddy,” he forced out hoarsely, his throat protesting against him trying to speak.

His gift flowed to the burns and incrediblyslowly each one began to fade. Gradually the blisters shrunk down and the fiery red of the ugly burnt skin began to recede. Aaron watched the progress through watery eyes and he would’ve smiled to himself if it weren’t for the terrible pain that was coursing through his body.

Squeezing his eyes closed, he couldn’t hold in the scream of agony that tore through him.

“Aaron!” Someone screamed his name from nearby. He thought it was Rhona but he couldn’t be sure.

He felt himself falling and then more pain as he hit the ground. He cried out again.

“Stop him!”

“You’ve done enough - let go.”

“Aaron?”

“Move his hand away!”

“Oh god, Aaron! What have you done?”

He felt warmth. Not painful fire under his skin, but a warmth that he knew so well. A feeling of safety and care and protection. He was sure he heard Robert’s voice calling to him, sure he felt Robert’s hand cradling his face, but he couldn’t move. He just soaked up the warmth around him before everything went black.


	5. 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic has mostly been from Aaron’s perspective, but I felt like it needed the last chapter from Robert’s POV to help fill some gaps about what had happened, so this is like a little interlude to move the story along.

Robert was going to write the whole day off as a waste of time. It had been a disaster from start to finish.

Thankfully things hadn’t got worse after his row with Aaron, but they hadn’t improved a great deal either.

As he sat in the back of the taxi on the way back to Emmerdale - head pounding, stomach churning (and not from alcohol) - he wondered why he’d even bothered going into town at all. Obviously he’d wanted to prove some sort of point, but whether that was to Aaron or himself, he wasn’t sure anymore.

He’d felt weird as soon as he’d stormed out of the pub earlier in the day; the familiar sense of wrongness when he’d fallen out with Aaron in some way had swept over him, leaving his head aching.

He’d stomped back to Vic’s and spent the rest of the afternoon alternating between moaning about how stubborn and foolish Aaron was and sitting silently stewing over how Aaron couldn’t understand why he was so upset. Because he had been upset. He’d been angry, that much was obvious as he’d slammed the door behind him as he’d left the pub, but he was also upset. Aaron didn’t seem to get it that Robert cared for him - more than he’d let on and that was his own fault, he’d supposed. He’d mused over how, instead of allowing the argument to escalate for all the wrong reasons, he should have just told Aaron that actually he hated the idea of him leaving or hurting himself to help other people because he loved him. It was stupid, he’d supposed, to be so stubborn and scared that he couldn’t even tell Aaron how he really felt.

And then Aaron had gone and blurted out that he’d be fine without Robert because he’d only wanted him around to get high using his energy, and as much as Robert didn’t want to believe it, he’d still allowed doubt to creep into his mind and that had been what had driven him to head out for the evening. 

He was angry with himself for thinking it was a good idea. What had he hoped to achieve? What had he actually planned to do? Go out and pull someone just to get back at Aaron? He hadn’t really wanted that but it hadn’t stopped him going out and pretending, even to himself, that maybe that was exactly what he was going to do.

Vic had been as loyal as ever, but had spent the whole time they were out watching him with concern (thinking she was being discreet of course). Robert had scowled at his pint for a few hours before he’d given up and told Vic they should go back to the village.

It was pathetic: he was pathetic. At least that was how he felt as he watched the countryside he knew so well flash past the window as the taxi made its way to the village. He couldn’t bear to be apart from Aaron even when he was mad at him - what did that say about him?

His head was still pounding, it had been all evening, and his stomach was hurting. The whole time he’d been out, he’d felt like his skin was itchy, like he couldn’t settle. He knew it was something to do with the distance he felt from Aaron and not just the physical space. But as they neared the village, Robert started to feel worse. His heart seemed to be beating faster than normal and he felt short of breath. He almost asked the driver to pull over but they were nearly back and he knew he could hold on until they reached Vic’s house.

“Are you okay, Rob?” his sister asked from next to him. She reached out a hand and laid it gently on his arm. “You look really peaky. You hardly had anything to drink.” She obviously thought it was weird that he was apparently ill from the little amount of alcohol he’d consumed, but Robert knew it was something else.

“Feel...weird,” he grunted in response.

In his gut, he knew it was something to do with Aaron. He’d had strange reactions before when Aaron had been healing someone and it had always acted as a signal to him that Aaron needed his help, but this was different. This felt wrong: it was much worse than anything he’d ever felt before.

The taxi turned into the main street of the village and Victoria gasped loudly. The driver slowed the car to a halt and Robert had clambered out a little unsteadily as soon as he could. His eyes widened in horror at the sight of the pub engulfed in flames and the crowd of people gathered a little further down the road. There were two fire engines pulled up in front of the Woolpack.

Robert’s thoughts went to Aaron immediately. What if he’d been inside? What if he still was? Maybe that was why he felt so uncomfortable, so weird.

Staggering a little, he made his way as quickly as he could towards the people in the street. There were so many faces he recognised but he couldn’t spare them a moment as he desperately scanned them for the one he needed to see.

Suddenly there was a yell of pain. It was a voice he’d know anywhere and he immediately looked in that direction. His head felt like it was being split in two.

“Aaron!” Someone screamed and Robert rushed forward.

Rhona was crouching down beside someone when Robert approached and as he stepped around her, he saw Aaron lying on the ground. His arm was outstretched, his fingers pressed to Paddy’s hand. Paddy was lying still but he looked unharmed and Robert knew that Aaron had healed him of whatever injuries he might have had.

But Aaron didn’t look fine. He looked awful. He was moaning in pain as he lay on the ground. The skin that Robert could see was an angry red, almost like he’d been burned but Robert had a horrible feeling he knew what had happened. Aaron had healed Paddy, who had suffered horrible injuries that Robert didn’t want to imagine, and he was now paying the price. It looked as though he was taking on the injuries himself and Robert was horrified at the thought.

Suddenly he realised that Aaron was still connected to Paddy by their joined hands. If Aaron was nearly unconscious, Robert didn’t know if that would stop his healing working on Paddy or if he’d just keep helping Paddy without even knowing he was doing it. It would drain him even more completely than he already had been if he continued.

“Stop him! Move his hand away!” he shouted and Rhona reacted instantly.

She grabbed Aaron’s arm and pulled his hand free from Paddy’s. “You’ve done enough - let go,” she said gently to Aaron, who was still moaning in pain. It didn’t seem like he’d even registered her speaking to him.

Robert knelt down beside him as Rhona moved away. “Aaron?” he called quietly.

He gathered Aaron up his arms and pulled him close. Aaron’s body was limp and as Robert pressed his face close to Aaron’s neck, he could hear the painful rasps of breath he was struggling to take.

“Oh god, Aaron,” he murmured. “What have you done?”

He didn’t need to be a doctor or a healer to know that Aaron was fading fast. He was struggling to breathe and his eyes were rolling back in his head.

He couldn’t heal Aaron - that wasn’t his gift - but he could give him energy and maybe that would be enough to help him hold on until the paramedics could get him to hospital for some proper treatment. He stroked his hand across Aaron’s cheek carefully and stared down at his slack face intently.

Any anger or hurt from earlier in the day had completely vanished. All Robert cared about was helping Aaron, saving the man he loved.

“It’s going to be alright. I’ve got you,” he told him quietly.

He felt his energy react instantly. He’d felt odd all night, like something was irritating him right beneath the surface of his skin, and now he knew why. His energy had been yearning to go to Aaron: it had been crying out for it, desperate to escape the confines that Robert held it trapped inside. But now it was free and it rushed out of him and into Aaron.

Robert felt something like the familiar spark between them, but it was muted, like something was missing. He was terrified that it was because Aaron was too far gone to be saved. He watched in despair as Aaron’s eyes fell closed and he seemed to be barely breathing at all.

“No,” he cried as he pulled Aaron closer, his hand still pressed to Aaron’s cheek. “No, you’re not leaving me. Not like this.”

Aaron wasn’t responding to his touch, but Robert refused to give up. He squeezed his eyes shut and drew Aaron seemingly impossibly closer. “C’mon,” he urged desperately. “C’mon, Aaron.” He didn’t even know what he was encouraging him to do: Aaron was unconscious, unable to react at all or choose to draw strength from Robert, but it was like he needed to keep talking to him, telling him he wasn’t letting go and that he’d be alright.

Something jolted through Robert’s hand as he took a deep breath and pushed his energy outward and Aaron twitched slightly in his arms.

Opening his eyes, Robert looked down at him. He knew that Aaron was incredibly weak - so exhausted he’d taken on other people’s injuries and drained himself almost to the point of no return. It was almost as though he was too weak to even properly allow the connection between himself and Robert that he so desperately needed. Maybe it was because he was close to dying. Robert held on: he refused to give up. He could feel his energy wanting to go to Aaron, almost like it was frustrated that the link between them wasn’t as strong as usual. He knew what he needed to do.

Forcing his way through the connection between them, Robert pushed his energy towards Aaron. Instead of sending a quick blast and then pulling back, he held on and kept going, releasing more and more of his energy. It didn’t feel good like it did when their gifts seemed to unite when they were getting each other off and it didn’t feel soothing or right like it normally did when Aaron needed help after he’d healed someone. It was a horrible feeling - Aaron on the verge of fading away completely and Robert letting his energy rush out of him almost too quickly - and Robert squeezed his eyes closed as he felt a wave of nausea wash over him. It was too much, but not enough at the same time. He needed to help Aaron: he had to give him everything he could.

His energy was still flooding to Aaron and, in a terrifying moment, Robert realised that he wasn’t in control anymore. He’d let his power go, it was doing what it had wanted to do since he’d arrived, and now he had no choice but to let it go to Aaron. He wouldn’t have stopped it anyway - not if it could save Aaron - but he was powerless to do anything else in that moment.

He struggled to open his eyes and when he did there were flashing lights everywhere. It hurt his eyes and his head to look at them and at first he couldn’t make sense of it all, but then he realised it meant the arrival of ambulances.

They’d be alright now.

His power still pulsed from his hand and his vision blurred at the edges. He swayed where he was sitting, suddenly finding it hard to stay upright.

“Robert?”

He squinted up at Vic and wondered why she looked so scared. Was she hurt? Had she been inside the pub? No, hadn’t she been with him? Why couldn’t he remember?

“Robert, you need to stop,” she said. Her voice sounded desperate and he didn’t know why.

He gritted his teeth and shook his head. He couldn’t stop. If he stopped, Aaron might fade away.

Victoria reached out, laying a hand on Robert’s arm and he cried out in pain like she’d burnt him. She snatched her hand away in shock and said something, her face panicked, but Robert couldn’t hear her anymore. Her mouth was moving but there was no sound.

Looking down at Aaron, his vision blurred again. He didn’t know if there was something wrong with his eyes or if he was crying.

He felt himself tipping forward slightly and struggled to right himself. There was a hollow sensation creeping over him that he’d never felt before. He didn’t feel like he was really there. He almost felt like he could float away, but when he looked down, his hand was still holding onto Aaron’s face.

‘Like an anchor,’ he thought to himself.

His eyelids started to droop, too heavy to hold up anymore. Everything was silent around him.

Someone must have grabbed hold of him because he cried out again and then there was nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Your lovely feedback keeps me going so please let me know what you think.


	6. 6

Waking up was awful. It took a long time and it hurt. Not like a sharp, sudden pain, but more of a dull ache all over his body.

Aaron knew he’d either drank the entire contents of his mum’s pub or he’d healed someone of something terrible. It didn’t take him long to remember that it was the second of his two possibilities.

As he lay there, eyes still closed as he didn’t want to face the bright lights of what he assumed was the hospital, his mind offered him snatches of memory: the pub on fire; his mum hurt; Paddy horrendously burned; and him healing them. He knew he’d pushed himself further than he ever had, but he’d had no choice. He couldn’t stand there and watch them suffer.

The sudden panicked thought that maybe it hadn’t been enough forced his eyes open and he blinked rapidly as he scanned the room.

Sure enough he was in hospital, a curtain pulled around the bed he was lying in, machines that he was connected to beside him. And, he blew out a relieved sigh as he realised, his mum was sitting on a chair next to his bed, staring down at her phone.

“Mum?” he said, his voice croaky and his throat sore as he spoke.

“Oh, Aaron,” she stood up immediately and hovered over him. Squeezing his hand, she looked him over and smiled gently at him. “Thank god. I’ve been so worried.”

He blinked at her and tried to clear his throat, wincing at the action.

His mum went to the cabinet beside his bed and poured him a small cup of water which she offered to him with a straw to drink. Gratefully he took the straw between his teeth and felt his throat soothed as he swallowed the cool liquid.

“Are you alright? And Paddy?” he asked as soon as he’d finished. His voice was still rough but at least it wasn’t as painful to speak.

Chas frowned down at him. “I’m fine, sweetheart. You don’t need to worry about me - you healed me. And Paddy’s made a full recovery too. It’s you we’ve all been worried about.”

It was Aaron’s turn to frown. He wasn’t daft: he knew that he’d overdone it with his healing (at least that’s what his mum would say). He knew he’d never healed two people who were so badly hurt in such quick succession before and he knew that he’d paid the price. Waking up in the hospital wasn’t a surprise after what he’d done, but it was hardly the first time it had happened. He knew his mum would give him an ear-bashing about it and tell him he needed to be more careful, but he’d done what he had for a good reason - if he needed some time to recover because he’d wiped himself out, it was a small price to pay.

“I’m fine now,” he said simply. “Just needed some rest obviously.”

Chas’ eyes widened and she shook her head a little. “Aaron, you nearly died.”

Aaron’s own eyes widened at her words. Surely she was just being over-dramatic.

Seeing the look on his face, she continued. “You healed me and you were already weakened, but then you went to help Paddy too. It was too much for you to do all in one go. You were so drained you started taking on Paddy’s injuries like they were your own.”

A vague memory of feeling terrible pain and wondering why he could hardly breathe crept into his mind, but it didn’t seem real. Still frowning at his mum’s words, he lifted a hand to his neck as he remembered feeling like his throat was burning. He looked down at his arm and half-expected to see burns, but there was nothing there.

His confused eyes went back Chas. “But I’m fine,” he said quietly, almost like he needed to be sure himself.

Chas blew out a breath. “You’ve been here, in a coma, for nearly a week.”

The words were a complete shock to Aaron. He’d had no idea how serious it was. When he’d needed recovery time after he’d healed someone before, he’d usually been back to normal after twenty-four hours. One time when he was younger he’d slept for a day, but nearly a week seemed almost unbelievable.

“At first, we didn’t know how much damage you’d done to yourself,” Chas continued. “You were completely unresponsive. We didn’t know if you were ever going to wake up.” She closed her eyes for a moment and drew in a shuddery breath. Reaching out, she squeezed his hand again. “But then, after a few days, the doctors told us you’d just need time to recover. They said we just had to wait and you’d wake up when you’d regained your strength but it was awful not knowing how long that would take.”

“I’m sorry I frightened you,” Aaron said as he looked down at where his mum was still holding his hand. He could feel tears burning in his eyes.

“I understand why you did it, but knowing that you’d given so much to help me and Paddy that you’d nearly died...knowing that you’d risked yourself like that...that you were in pain because you’d helped us...” she trailed off and blinked rapidly to force her tears back. “I couldn’t live with myself if we’d lost you like that.”

“I had to help you,” Aaron argued.

Chas shook her head. “You shouldn’t have done it. There must be a better way. You can’t keep putting yourself in danger like this.”

Aaron huffed out a bitter laugh. “You sound like Robert.”

Suddenly he wondered where Robert was. He wondered if the other man had come to visit him in the hospital; if he’d been worried about him. More likely than not, Robert would have been worried and then pissed off. What had happened would no doubt add to his argument that Aaron was taking unnecessary risks with his healing.

Chas was looking at him anxiously after he’d spoken and it merely confirmed his suspicions that Robert was probably in an even worse mood than he already had been the day they’d argued. Aaron wouldn’t put it past him to have come to the hospital yelling at his mum and Paddy for allowing themselves to be healed.

“Let me guess, he’s not happy about what’s happened. I’m sure he’s probably annoyed at me for going so far, but he just doesn’t get it.” He sighed heavily. “I don’t want to lose him, but I don’t know how I’m supposed to make him understand.” He paused, lost in thought for a moment. “Where is he anyway? I need to see him: we need to talk.”

“Aaron, love, he’s here,” Chas said gently.

Aaron felt his heart jump a little at the knowledge. He had hoped that Robert would be either already there or planning to visit. He really wanted to talk to him: he wanted to work through their differences. Suddenly their argument from the day of the explosion at the pub seemed like something they needed to deal with urgently. Aaron was still feeling pretty exhausted but he felt a strong urge to talk to Robert.

“That’s good,” he replied. “Do you think you could find him for me and ask him to come for a chat? We have some stuff to work through.”

“Aaron...listen to me. I don’t know how much you remember from the night of the fire, but...Robert’s here,” she repeated and Aaron just looked at her as if to say, ‘yes, you already said that’. Chas tilted her head to the side and looked at him sympathetically. She squeezed his hand again. “Robert’s in the hospital - he’s very poorly, sweetheart.”

Aaron’s eyes widened in horror at her words. He shook his head in denial. How could Robert be hurt? Suddenly he panicked. What if Robert had returned to the village while Aaron had been out on his run? What if he’d been in the pub when the explosion had happened? What if he’d been seriously hurt and Aaron hadn’t even realised while he’d been healing other people?

“What? What do you mean? He can’t be. Where is he?” he asked. His words and questions rushed out in a desperate panic. His heart was pounding suddenly and he tried to push himself up out of his bed, but his mum stood up and forced him to lie back down. It didn’t take her much effort: he was still so weak and the energy of just trying to move so suddenly had tired him out quickly.

“You need to stay calm,” she told him. “Just listen and I’ll explain everything.”

Aaron nodded quickly and blinked up at her, his eyes pleading with her to tell him that Robert was going to be alright.

Chas drew in a deep breath after she’d settled herself back in her chair. “I don’t know the exact details,” she began. “I didn’t see what happened myself, but Marlon and Victoria filled me in. You were completely drained after you’d healed me and Paddy. Like I told you, you were so weak you’d started to take on our injuries and you had no strength left at all. The next thing anyone knew, Robert was there with you and, from what Vic said, he started giving you his energy, like he has before, only this time...he didn’t stop, or he couldn’t. We don’t know. You were so weak - apparently it looked like you were dying and Robert...he gave you everything he had. The doctors said that he saved you. But, I’m sorry, love, he’s paid the price. He collapsed and he hasn’t woken up since.”

Tears were sliding down the side of Aaron’s face and onto his pillow as his mum told him what had happened. She rubbed his arm gently.

“The doctors are hoping that he just needs time to restore his energy, but they aren’t sure. They’ve never dealt with a case like this before...and they don’t know why he hasn’t shown any signs of waking up yet. I’m sorry, love.”

“It’s my fault,” Aaron whispered, the tears still dribbling down his face. “Why did he do that?” he sobbed.

“You know why,” his mum said gently. “He cares so much about you. And he wouldn’t want you blaming yourself. He made his decision.”

More tears fell, but then Aaron wiped them away roughly. “Where is he? I need to see him.”

Chas looked away from him and at the curtain around the bed before looking back at him and frowning slightly. “The pair of you were both so ill when they brought you in. And neither of you seemed to be getting any better for the first few days. But one of the doctors had read some research or something about these patients in America. It was a similar situation to yours - two people who seemed to share a connection - and when they were closer, they recovered more quickly, so, of course they had to get consent from me, and Victoria because she’s Robert’s family...”

“Mum,” Aaron interrupted her, just desperate to know where Robert was, to see him.

“They moved Robert into the bed next to you,” Chas finally said. “He’s just the other side of the curtain.”

“I need to see him,” Aaron said immediately. He was staring at the curtain like he could make it disappear if he gazed at it for long enough.

“You’ve only just woken up,” Chas told him with a shake of her head. “You’re not strong enough to be getting up out of bed.”

“I don’t need to,” Aaron replied immediately. He looked back at her. “Please, Mum. I need to see him. Just let me see him - open the curtain.”

Chas sighed heavily and pursed her lips. She stared at her son for a long moment, clearly wondering what to do for the best. Then she stood up and stepped towards the curtain.

“Don’t be getting any ideas about moving out of that bed, d’you hear me? Not until you’ve got more of your strength back.” She reached up to the dark blue curtain. “I’m doing this so you don’t need to get out of bed,” she told him as she paused for a moment. Then she pulled the material back and Aaron moved his head a little to peer around her. His eyes landed on Robert immediately and he felt a wave of sadness and guilt wash over him.

Robert was lying on his back, completely still on his bed. He didn’t have any tubes down his throat or a mask over his face, but he was hooked up to machines providing him with medication and fluids, and ones monitoring his heart-rate and blood pressure.

Aaron so desperately wanted to go to his side, but he knew he couldn’t and not just because of his mum’s words of warning: he just didn’t have the strength.

Settling for letting his eyes roam over Robert, he realised how pale he looked. His skin, normally glowing in Aaron’s eyes, was a sickly pallor and it hurt Aaron to see him looking so washed out.

He drew in a shaky breath and felt hot tears slide down his face again.

“Hey now,” his mum said softly as she stepped back to his bedside. “He’s going to be okay.”

Aaron sniffed loudly. “What if he’s not? What if...”

“That’s enough of that,” his mum said, putting on her stern voice and wagging a finger at him. “He’s going to be just fine. You were really poorly too and you just needed some time to get better. And that’s what will happen to Robert. You just need to give him time to recover.”

Wiping at his eyes, Aaron turned his head to look at Robert again.

He didn’t take his eyes off him until his exhaustion finally took over and his eyelids fell shut as he was dragged into a restless sleep.

***

When Aaron woke up, he was immediately aware of his surroundings and the situation, and he looked in Robert’s direction as soon as his eyes were open. He was stunned to see that Robert was no longer lying flat on his back: he’d obviously rolled over at some point while Aaron was asleep and now he was turned towards him, lying on his side with his right arm stretched out towards the edge of his bed like he was reaching for Aaron.

Had he regained consciousness while Aaron had been asleep?

Aaron turned a little on his own bed. “Rob?” he tried to call, but his voice was gravelly from lack of use and he knew it wasn’t loud enough. “Robert?” he tried again.

A nurse appeared from the foot of Robert’s bed and Aaron had been so wrapped up in trying to get Robert to wake up, he hadn’t even realised she was there. He looked at her with a hopeful expression and she smiled at him sympathetically.

“He hasn’t woken up yet,” she told him gently and Aaron felt his hope plummet in his chest. “But try not to be disheartened: this is progress. He hadn’t shown any signs of movement since he was brought into the hospital before this. And when I came to check on him an hour ago, he’d rolled over.”

Aaron blinked at her, trying to stop his emotions taking over. “Why would that happen now? If he hasn’t shown signs of anything the whole time?” he asked her a little hoarsely.

“The doctors think he’s reacted to you. Now you’ve woken up, they’re hopeful that the connection between you will help him to regain consciousness. I don’t really understand how it works - it’s something that’s a bit of a mystery still - but it’s like he can sense you even though he’s not awake.” She’d stepped closer to Aaron as she spoke kindly to him.

Aaron nodded at her words, his eyes moving back to Robert, taking in the way his hand seemed to be reaching out for him, the way his face - still slack with sleep - was angled towards him, almost like he’d been seeking Aaron out without even being aware.

“Shall I get you a cup of tea?” the nurse asked him gently. She could obviously see how much Robert’s condition was distressing Aaron.

Aaron looked back at her and smiled weakly. “Please,” he replied quietly, before he looked straight back at Robert, desperate to see some sort of tiny movement: a flicker of his eyelids, a twitch of his fingers, anything to show that he was coming back to Aaron.


	7. 7

Aaron had spent a day drifting in and out of restless sleep. He hadn’t been able to get comfortable and every time he snapped awake, he immediately looked over to Robert, who was always in exactly the same state.

At least Aaron was beginning to feel like he was regaining some strength. He’d been able to hold longer conversations with people who had visited and the doctors who came to check on his progress, and he was starting to stay awake for longer periods.

It was quiet in the room that he was sharing with Robert: no visitors, no hospital staff for once, Robert still fast asleep and Aaron staring at him longingly.

He’d been gazing at him, willing him to move or react in some way for a while and finally, in a moment of sheer frustration, Aaron decided to take matters into his own hands.

Pushing himself upright, he shoved the sheets down off him and swung his legs to the side of the bed. Then he lowered his feet down onto the cold floor.

Every time he’d stood up since he’d been awake, someone had been there to take his arm so he could lean on them to help him get to the bathroom (which he hated because he didn’t want to have to depend on anyone, but he’d gritted his teeth and endured it) but this time he was alone. His legs shook a little as he stood up straight and, not for the first time, he wondered just how close to dying he must’ve been to be still feeling the after-effects of healing his mum and Paddy.

On unsteady legs, he staggered the few paces to Robert’s bedside and slumped down on the edge of it in the space left by the curve of Robert’s body.

Finally he was close to Robert and he felt a surge of something like relief wash over him. It wasn’t enough though as he gazed down at Robert’s pale face.

“Wake up,” he whispered as his eyes roamed over him. “I’m here now - wake up.”

He wouldn’t have admitted it to anyone, but part of him thought that it would work. Part of him thought that if he could just get closer to him, Robert might just wake up. It was a stupid idea and Aaron cursed himself for his own wishful thinking.

Taking Robert’s hand in his own, he smoothed his thumb over Robert’s knuckles.

“Please wake up,” he repeated quietly. “You’ve been asleep for ages...I miss you.” He choked a little on the last few words, trying to hold back a sob. In reality, it had only been a day that Aaron himself had been conscious and aware of what had happened, but it felt far too long to be without Robert. Knowing Robert was lying so close to him, but seemingly so far away, was torturous.

As he sat beside Robert, a thought suddenly came to Aaron. What if he could heal Robert? Maybe that was all he needed. Hadn’t the doctors and nurses been going on about how their connection had helped speed up Aaron’s own recovery? And hadn’t they told him that Robert had moved because he’d been able to sense that Aaron was there? What if, all along, all Robert needed was Aaron’s healing ability to help him? Maybe it would just speed things up.

He hesitated for a moment wondering whether he was making a mistake. Robert didn’t have any physical injuries; he was just drained completely after what he’d done to save Aaron. But did that mean Aaron couldn’t help him? Surely that was a physical problem. A silent argument raged in Aaron’s head. Surely he couldn’t do any harm to Robert by at least trying. And Robert had done everything he could to save him, so surely it was his turn to try the same.

Mind made up, he shuffled a little further up the bed and placed his free hand against Robert’s cheek. He still held Robert’s hand in his.

Drawing in a deep breath, knowing that he still wasn’t fully recovered himself and that if anyone caught him doing this he’d be in trouble, he allowed his eyes to fall shut. He felt his gift sluggishly wake within him. It took a few moments, but the feeling he knew so well started to flow within him. He felt it rush to his hands where they touched Robert’s skin and he opened his eyes as he willed his healing to seek out Robert’s needs.

There was a tingling in his fingertips which spread quickly across his hands and Aaron frowned in confusion as his gift seemed to be swirling within him but refusing to go to Robert. He shook his head and tried to force it, but his gift just seemed to hit an invisible barrier and circle back on itself.

“Come on,” he urged, getting frustrated and beginning to feel hopeless. This had been his chance to help Robert and he realised it wasn’t working: his hope was fading.

With a cry of anguish, he released Robert and his gift dissipated within him, slinking away almost like it knew it had failed. His hands were trembling from the effort it had taken to summon his gift and he shoved them between his thighs so he didn’t have to admit how weak he still was.

Tears burned his eyes and a few spilled down his cheeks as he stared at Robert’s unresponsive face.

“Why didn’t it work?” he whispered. “Why won’t you wake up?”

He stared down at Robert feeling despair creep over him. What if what Robert had done had damaged their connection too severely? He forced himself to believe that couldn’t be true. If they had lost their connection, Robert wouldn’t have reacted to Aaron being awake. Something was still there between them. It had to be.

He was suddenly angry. Robert had done the one thing that he’d always had a go at Aaron for - he’d given too much and paid the price - and now he was lying there refusing to wake up.

“You’re not being fair,” he told Robert. He scrubbed at his face with one hand to wipe the tears from his cheeks. “I never asked you to help me; you shouldn’t have done it. I woke up and now you won’t.” He pushed himself back to his feet rather unsteadily and scowled down at Robert angrily. “I can’t help you and maybe you don’t want me to...so fine. I give up.”

He turned and forced his feet to carry him back to his own section of the room. It took him longer than he’d have liked and he was glad there was no-one there to witness his rather embarrassing attempt at storming off. When he reached the curtain around his bed, he grabbed it and yanked it closed around his bed with as much force as he could manage, again not really making the statement he’d have liked but seeing as Robert was unconscious, he supposed it didn’t matter. The message he was delivering was clear enough.

He clambered back onto his bed and lowered himself down against the pillows: his heart was thudding in his chest and he didn’t think it was just from the exertion of moving about. His head was pounding too and he knew it was something to do with his connection with Robert; his body’s way of rebelling against what he’d done, against his anger. He squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his head back against his pillow. When he still felt exactly the same after a few minutes, he rolled onto his side, facing away from where Robert’s bed was, even though he could no longer see it anyway thanks to the curtain. He kept his eyes closed and tried to stop thinking about Robert.

***

Eventually he’d fallen asleep, physical and emotional exhaustion getting the better of him, and he’d been grateful for the chance to stop thinking, worrying, pretending that he didn’t care.

When he’d woken up, he’d lain there staring up at the ceiling tiles wondering if there had been any change in Robert’s condition. The curtain was still closed around his bed and he had no way of knowing whether Robert was awake, or if he’d moved at all. Silently he cursed himself for his earlier angry outburst and he yet again pushed himself up and out of bed. He knew he’d overreacted - there was no point being angry with Robert. What would that achieve? He just felt so frustrated, and so scared, about the situation that he’d lashed out in his usual style. He regretted it now, and the notion of giving up on Robert was gone from his mind. He hadn’t meant it: of course he hadn’t.

Grabbing the curtain, he pulled it back slowly and felt his heart sink a little at the sight of Robert still sleeping soundly. But then he noticed that there had been a change: Robert’s hand wasn’t where Aaron had left it lying against his mattress. It was extended further than before so this arm was actually hanging off the side of the bed. Immediately Aaron knew that Robert had been reaching for him. If he hadn’t closed the curtain, maybe he’d have noticed it happening, or maybe it wouldn’t have happened at all. Maybe Robert was subconsciously reaching for him after he’d so angrily walked away from him and put a physical, albeit flimsy, barrier between them again. He didn’t know what had happened; he didn’t know why. He just knew he didn’t like seeing Robert’s arm hanging so uncomfortably, so he started making his way over to him. Settling himself on the side of his bed again, he took Robert’s hand in his own, frowning at how cold it felt, before he placed it on his lap and rubbed at it gently.

The frustration and disappointment from earlier was all but forgotten as he allowed his eyes to roam over Robert’s sleeping face.

“I know you can tell I’m here,” he said quietly. “You can sense me or something.” He stroked Robert’s hand again. “D’you think the nurses would let me sleep on here with you? Wonder if we’d both fit.” He was just thinking out loud, but he liked the idea of it.

“Aaron? What are you doing out of bed?”

Turning to face the door, Aaron saw Victoria standing there watching him with wide, concerned eyes. She walked further into the room and frowned at him.

“Shouldn’t you be resting? Did you walk over here by yourself? What if you’d fallen?”

She was going at a million miles an hour, like usual, and Aaron just let her ask her questions knowing he wouldn’t get a word in until she’d finished.

“I wanted to sit with him,” he said quietly when she’d ran out of steam.

“Oh,” she replied quietly. It seemed she didn’t really know what to say in response to his words. “How are you feeling?”

“Better,” he said simply and it was true. He was gradually feeling better, but still not on top form. He still felt weak and he still didn’t feel right. He wondered how much of it was to do with the fact that Robert was still unconscious. “I wish he’d wake up,” he added quietly.

Vic hummed in response and sat down in the chair on the opposite side of the bed. “Me too,” she agreed. “But he looks so much better.”

Aaron frowned at her words. “Really? He looks...he’s so pale.”

Vic sighed heavily. “I suppose. But you didn’t see him before. When they brought you both in, he was practically grey. He looked...well, he looked like he was dead.”

Aaron drew in a sharp breath at the words.

“And you didn’t look much better,” she continued. “The pair of you had just about pushed yourselves to the limit. You’re both as bad as one another and clearly made for one another.”

Despite the situation, despite his frustration that Robert hadn’t woken up, despite his fear that their connection might have been damaged, Aaron liked the sound of that. They were made for one another. Surely everything they had been through proved that.

***

When Aaron woke up, he knew instantly - Robert was awake. He’d startled awake and could just feel it without needing to see him. 

He looked over to Robert’s bed immediately, pushing himself up on his elbow a little so he could see more clearly. It was the middle of the night, the dim lights of the hospital making it a little harder to see than he would like, but Robert was blinking slowly, like his eyelids weighed too much and it was a terrible effort to hold them open.

Aaron’s heart swelled in his chest and he drew in a deep breath. His lips twitched slightly, the beginnings of a smile forming: Robert was back with him. He felt warmth flood through his entire being.

“Robert?” he called to him softly.

Robert’s eyelids lifted slowly again at the sound of Aaron’s voice, but he didn’t turn his head to face him.

Realising that if Robert had just woken up from a week-long coma he would be fairly exhausted and disorientated, Aaron pushed himself up out of bed. He was feeling much better and the doctors had been to see him earlier to tell him that he would be released in the morning. Half of him had been relieved to be escaping the hospital, but the other half had been dreading the thought of leaving Robert behind. What if Aaron leaving, not being there beside him all the time, caused Robert to become more ill? What if it slowed down his recovery even more? But now Robert had regained consciousness, surely he didn’t need to worry about that anymore. Robert had woken up just in time.

Aaron walked over to Robert’s bedside and stood next to him. He didn’t climb up beside him but he reached out and squeezed Robert’s hand in his own.

“Rob?” he called again.

Slowly, Robert’s eyes opened and he squinted up at Aaron.

“Hey,” Aaron said quietly. “I’m glad you’re back - I’ve been so worried about you.”

Robert frowned at his words, but he didn’t seem to have the strength to respond in any other way. He was blinking incredibly slowly as he looked up at Aaron and it looked like he was about to fall asleep again at any moment.

Aaron squeezed his hand again. “It’s okay. Get some sleep and I’ll be here when you wake up.”

Robert’s eyelids fell again and this time they didn’t reopen. Aaron smiled fondly at him, ran his hand gently up Robert’s arm and then walked out of their room to the nurses’ station to tell the staff that Robert had woken up. He knew he’d get reprimanded for wandering about in just his pyjamas in the middle of the night, but he needed to share the good news with someone. Robert was coming back to him.

***

The next few days passed slowly.

Aaron was discharged from the hospital and given strict instructions to take his time, get plenty of rest, and under no circumstances was he to heal, or even attempt to heal, anyone. Chas was watching him like a hawk to make sure he did as he was told. He hadn’t told anyone about his failed attempt to heal Robert in the hospital: he didn’t want to face the telling off he’d get, and he also didn’t want to have to think too deeply about why their connection had been missing.

He’d been back to the hospital to visit Robert within hours of his own discharge, despite his mum’s roll of the eyes and frown and her advice that he needed to take it easy.

Robert had taken a long time to wake up fully. He’d spent a day drifting in and out of consciousness but as Aaron sat beside his bed, he’d noticed how Robert was able to hold his eyes open for longer each time he woke up and how he’d started to become more aware of his surroundings as the time went by.

Eventually, Robert had even managed to ask Aaron a few questions: what had happened? Was everyone alright? Was Aaron okay? And Aaron had smiled gently at him and reassured him that he was fine and everyone else was too. They hadn’t discussed what Robert had done - and how far he’d gone - to save Aaron, and they hadn’t talked about how Aaron had pushed himself to the brink before Robert had arrived. It seemed like a delicate subject and one that Aaron was almost afraid to address.

***

When he arrived at the hospital, Aaron was pleasantly surprised to find that Robert was sitting up in his bed.

“You’re looking better,” he remarked as he took in the sight of Robert fully awake, still looking a little worse for wear, but his skin had at least regained some colour.

Robert nodded once. “First time I’ve felt properly awake.”

Aaron sat down in the chair beside the bed and tugged it a little closer. “Any word on when you’ll be getting out?”

Robert shrugged slightly. “The doctor came round this morning and said I was doing well. Might be able to go home in the next few days if I keep getting stronger.”

“Good, that’s good,” Aaron told him. He couldn’t help but notice how Robert hadn’t looked at him properly since he’d arrived and how his responses were clipped. He seemed distant somehow and Aaron didn’t like it. It felt wrong.

“Are you alright?” he asked, but even as he spoke, he could feel something uncomfortable churning in his gut.

Robert’s eyes flicked to him briefly before he looked back down at the sheet pulled up over him.

“Vic told me what happened,” he said quietly.

“What do you...you mean the night of the explosion at the pub?” Aaron asked.

Robert nodded. “I could remember bits of it, but not everything. She told me what happened. It helped me remember more about that night,” he swallowed thickly and finally looked up at Aaron properly. “I know how far you pushed yourself to save your mum and then Paddy.”

Aaron’s shoulders slumped at his words. He’d really hoped that they could move past Robert’s annoyance at his use of his gift, but it seemed like Robert was determined to let it become a massive issue.

“They’re my family,” he replied. “They nearly died: I had no choice.”

“You nearly died!” Robert snapped. “And of course you had a choice. You could’ve stopped; you could’ve helped them just enough that the paramedics could take over and they’d still be okay, but you never stop, do you? You never think about the consequences.”

Aaron shook his head angrily. “That’s not fair. Of course I do, but I can’t just stand by and watch people I care about suffering.”

Robert sighed heavily. “I can’t do this,” he told him quietly, his eyes turned back to the bed.

Aaron huffed out a frustrated breath. “I don’t think we should do this right now either. You’ve only just started to get better - you need some time to rest and recover. But we need to sort this out eventually.”

“No, Aaron,” Robert replied and he sounded defeated. “I mean, I can’t do this - us - anymore.”

Aaron’s eyes widened and he shook his head again. “What are you talking about?”

“I can’t be with you if you’re going to keep risking yourself like this. I nearly lost you. If I’d not come back to the village when I did, you’d have died. And you just don’t seem to get it - I’ve tried to tell you that you need to be careful, but you never think about what you’re doing to yourself. I just...I can’t watch you do it to yourself anymore.”

Aaron’s mouth flapped open and he struggled to find words. He knew Robert was upset about his healing - he had been long before all of this had happened - but he hadn’t expected Robert to react quite so strongly. Maybe everything seemed worse because it had actually effected him physically this time. “Is this because you ended up in here because you helped me?” he asked.

Robert’s eyes snapped to him and he looked hurt and angry. “Of course it’s not. That has nothing to do with it. We had this problem before but this time was just too much. I can’t face losing you like that, Aaron. I’d rather walk away now than not be there when you need me and lose you anyway. I can’t sit around waiting for you to go too far and kill yourself because you want to help everyone else and you never think about looking after yourself.”

Aaron was lost for words. He stood up and paced down the length of Robert’s bed before he turned back to face him. His heart was racing in his chest and his head was beginning to pound. He could feel his gift swirling inside him like it was panicking somehow and Aaron took a moment to marvel at the irony that their connection, which had felt so distant when Aaron had tried to heal Robert, seemed to have been reignited just as Robert was trying to force them apart.

“You’re just upset...about what happened,” he said as he looked at Robert, desperate to make him see sense. “And about ending up here. You’re tired and you’ve been through a lot. You don’t mean it.”

Robert shook his head again. “Yes, I’m upset, Aaron. I’m upset because you don’t seem to care what happens to you. You’re hurting yourself to help everyone else and I just can’t sit around and watch you do it anymore.”

Tears burned in Aaron’s eyes at the words. He’d been so hopeful when Robert had started to regain consciousness. He’d been sure that they were going to be alright: he’d never imagined that Robert wouldn’t want him anymore, that Robert would throw away what they had because he couldn’t accept Aaron’s choices.

Suddenly he was angry. How was it fair for Robert to make this decision? He scrubbed at his eyes roughly and jabbed a finger at Robert angrily.

“You’re a hypocrite,” he said bluntly. “You’re sitting there telling me you can’t be with me because I’m hurting myself by healing people, but you did exactly the same thing when you helped me. When you found me, you gave me everything you had. You saved my life, but it nearly cost you yours. That’s the reason why you’re saying we’re finished. So how does that make sense? How can you say that when you’ve done exactly the same thing?”

Robert blew out a breath. “And how did it feel when I was here, not waking up? How did it feel when you found out what I’d done to save you? How did it feel when you thought I might die?” he asked desperately. “Because that’s how I feel every time you end up suffering because you’ve healed someone else and pushed yourself again. You keep doing it and never thinking about how you’re hurting yourself and I refuse to watch it happening anymore. If you won’t stop for me, when I’ve begged you and told you how I feel and you know how scared I am about losing you for good, then I...I can’t...I just can’t,” he finished quietly and Aaron was sure he could see tears shining in Robert’s eyes.

“I can’t just stop helping people. You can’t expect me to do nothing if I know I can heal someone,” Aaron replied quietly. He knew his voice sounded defeated: he felt it. “This is an impossible situation.”

Robert stared at him, but he didn’t speak. He just looked at Aaron - who was standing at the end of his bed staring back at him - with such sadness in his eyes.

And Aaron knew that it was over. He could try to fight it: he could argue with Robert about it for hours and they’d just go round and round in circles because Robert had made up his mind.

Part of him was angry. He felt like Robert had given him an impossible ultimatum: stop healing people or we can’t be together. And Aaron couldn’t stop. Healing people was something that seemed so natural; it was a part of him that he couldn’t shut out.

Mostly he felt terrible sadness. He wondered if it was heartbreak.

He blinked at Robert a few times and made no attempt to stop the tears that trickled down his face. He wondered how Robert could sit there and tell him it was over when Robert looked like he was about to fall to pieces himself any moment.

Knowing he couldn’t stand there any longer, and not having any idea what he should say or do, he turned around and walked out of the door.

As he made his way along the corridor, he stumbled over his own feet and leant against the wall clutching at his chest for a moment. His feet felt like lead and his head was thudding horribly. Forcing himself to keep moving was the hardest thing he’d done in a long time. It felt like something inside him was trying to stop him walking away - maybe it was his heart or his soul or his gift. Whatever it was, it was screaming at him that this was wrong, but he kept walking, even though he felt like he was tearing himself apart as he went.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the surprise angst...I’ll just be hiding.


	8. 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here we are at the end of another Robron fic. This started out as a few thousand words of a one-shot and has grown into well over 20k and eight chapters! And that’s partly down the fab encouragement and feedback from you lovely readers, so thank you! 
> 
> Let’s see if I can fix the heartbreak from the previous chapter...

Months went by. 

Aaron had tried to settle into some sort of new reality, but it just didn’t seem right. He felt wrong in his own skin.

They’d been together for nearly a year and somehow Aaron struggled to remember what his life had been like before Robert had been part of it. When he thought back to it, as he lay awake in bed staring into the darkness at night, he realised how his life had seemed incomplete. Of course, he’d never noticed at the time. He’d never realised there was something missing until he’d met Robert and suddenly the space had been filled. But now he was back to having that missing piece in his life, only now it was so much worse because he knew what was missing.

It wasn’t just their connection or the way their gifts seemed so in-sync. It was the fact that he missed Robert. He missed waking up with him, and spending time with him, and bickering with him, and sleeping with him.

And his gift missed Robert too. Beneath the obvious heartache, there was the problem of his gift seeming unsettled and unhappy inside him - like it had feelings of its own and it was seriously affected by Robert’s absence.

Aaron hadn’t felt right in many ways since they’d split up, but the physical differences were most obvious, most noticeable to everyone else, because his mum kept asking how he was feeling and Paddy kept having awkward conversations with him about how he was doing and everyone seemed to be being ‘careful’ with him.

He knew he didn’t feel right and every day when he looked at himself in the mirror he knew he hadn’t fully recovered from the incident at the pub, despite it being months ago.

Aaron wondered whether Robert felt the same. He was pretty sure that he did. When he’d seen him around in the village, Robert had looked as worn and tired as Aaron felt. And Aaron didn’t know whether seeing Robert, or even just knowing he was still in Emmerdale, was making him feel worse, or whether that was all that was stopping him from falling apart completely.

***

Aaron was slumped on the sofa in the back room of the pub.

Four months on from the explosion that had been so costly in so many ways, things were nearly back to normal with the building. There were a few last jobs for the builders and the decorators were doing their finishing touches, but the pub looked good as new - better in fact. Idly he wondered why it wasn’t so easy to repair everything in his life, and then wondered when his thoughts had got so deep. Probably since Robert, he thought a little bitterly.

The knock on the back door was a welcome distraction from his maudlin thoughts, so he hopped up and answered it, only to be left gaping like a fish at the sight of Robert standing before him looking uncomfortable and nervous.

They’d not been in close company since Aaron had walked away from Robert in the hospital. Of course they’d seen one another around in the village, and caught one another’s eye across the pub, but they’d not been close. It seemed like they’d both tried to keep their distance: maybe they’d both been afraid of what might happen if they didn’t.

Aaron had always been aware if Robert had been near, and his gift had too. It had fizzled beneath the surface of his skin whenever Robert was anywhere close. And now it was practically roaring inside him, yearning to go to Robert and bring them back together. Clenching his hand tightly around the edge of the door to stop himself doing something embarrassing, Aaron stared at Robert, waiting for him to speak.

Robert chewed on his bottom lip for a while and let his eyes roam over Aaron. Then he cleared his throat.

“How are you?” he asked eventually.

“Been better,” Aaron said with a shrug. It was the understatement of the year.

“Thought so,” Robert said with a nod. “Me too. That’s...that’s kind of why I’m here.”

He paused and looked at Aaron steadily.

“D’you want to come in?” Aaron eventually asked and Robert nodded quickly in reply.

Once they were through in the back room, Aaron shut the door behind him and leant against it, watching Robert as he nervously fiddled with the hem of his jacket. Robert had never seemed nervous in his company before and the sight of it now made Aaron tense, his own nerves fluttering inside him.

“Well?” Aaron asked as his patience finally snapped.

“I wanted to come to tell you...before you found out from someone else...and I wanted to explain...” Robert trailed off and looked at Aaron sadly. “I’ve decided to leave Emmerdale. At least for a little while.”

Aaron’s mouth flapped open before he could stop it and he shook his head slightly in disbelief.

“Why?” he managed to ask.

Robert’s shoulders slumped. “Because I have to do something. I haven’t felt right in months. I thought things might get better if I gave it some time, but...I just don’t feel right and I know you don’t either. You don’t look well and I hate knowing that’s to do with me.”

Aaron wanted to scream at him that there was an obvious solution to both of them feeling like that: they should get back together and forget about their problems. But he knew it wasn’t going to happen. Robert was adamant that he couldn’t be with Aaron while he kept healing people and Aaron refused to give it up. They would never agree and they’d never be able to get past it.

“I thought we’d be alright living in the same village, but I just don’t think it’s helping us,” Robert continued. “Maybe...maybe some proper space between us - not seeing one another all the time - will make this easier. Maybe we’ll start to get back to normal.”

Robert sounded like he was just clutching at straws, hoping he was making the right decision but not feeling all that confident in his choice. Aaron could see where his motivation was coming from: neither of them had recovered properly and maybe there was something getting in the way. Maybe they needed to break the bond between them more forcefully. The thought of it sent a shudder of desperate sadness through Aaron. His gift was restless inside him and he wondered if it knew somehow that Robert was leaving.

Aaron swallowed thickly and shrugged his shoulders. “If that’s what you think is best.”

Robert blew out a long breath. He half raised his hands but then let them slap against his thighs in defeat. “I don’t know what’s for the best, Aaron. But we can’t go on like this. I feel like part of me is missing even though you’re right there and...it’s just too much.”

Signing heavily, Aaron nodded. He understood that feeling: he was experiencing it too. He didn’t know how, or if, it would ever get better. Maybe Robert was right. Maybe they needed some proper distance between them and then maybe, just maybe, they could move on. The problem was Aaron wasn’t sure he even wanted to move on.

He looked at Robert’s pale, drawn face for a long time and realised just how different Robert looked these days. The glow he’d always seemed to have was missing, replaced by a dullness and a heaviness that seemed to be dragging him down. In that moment, he knew. He had to let Robert go. He had to do the right thing for both of them no matter how much it hurt. No matter how much he wanted to tell Robert that he was wrong.

“You’re right,” he said quietly.

Robert’s eyes widened slightly; the shock that Aaron had agreed so easily was obvious on his face. He looked like he was about to speak a few times before his mouth closed again. Then he finally found the words.

“I’m sorry, Aaron,” he whispered. “I wish things had been different.”

“Me too,” Aaron replied, equally as quietly.

They both gazed at one another across the room. Aaron’s own heartache was reflected back to him on Robert’s face.

“Good luck...with whatever it is you end up doing,” Aaron told him.

“Thanks. You too. I hope you’ll be happy.”

Aaron blinked rapidly, tears forming in his eyes. He moved away from the door and stepped in front of the sofa so he was no longer in the way and Robert could leave. He wanted to go to Robert, just to touch him or hug him or kiss him once more, but he wouldn’t torture himself with it.

Eventually Robert moved towards the door. He paused as he reached it and turned back slightly. “Bye, Aaron,” he said quietly.

Aaron gulped and clenched his jaw to stop his tears falling. “Bye, Robert.”

He turned away from the door and waited until he heard the back door open and close before he sank down on the sofa. He put his head in his hands and finally let the tears come. Robert was gone and they were really over now. There was no going back. At least while they’d both been in Emmerdale, Aaron had been able to hold onto the hope that maybe they’d figure it out and come back together, but now that hope was gone. Robert was gone and Aaron had lost him for good.

***

The year seemed to be flying by.

It had already got to that annoying time of year when people started making comments about Christmas even though it was still two months away, but Aaron had to admit time was slipping by.

The first few weeks after Robert had left Emmerdale had been awful.

Aaron had suffered emotionally and physically. He’d felt like his heart had been ripped out at the same time as his body was betraying him. The constant headache and churning low in his gut combined with the way his gift seemed to be rebelling against him had made him utterly miserable. He’d wondered if Robert was being effected in the same way and he’d worried about how he would be coping all alone wherever he’d moved to.

But as the weeks had turned into months, he’d started to feel better. The pain, both physical and emotional, seemed to be easing and gradually he felt more like his old self. Not completely, and he didn’t think he ever would, but getting better.

His mum had tried setting him up with some nice doctor who’d stopped off at the pub one day. She’d been beside herself with how lovely he was and how he was ‘perfect’ for Aaron. He’d rolled his eyes and reluctantly agreed to go on a date with the man. He’d tried: he really had. But a few dates later and Aaron couldn’t bring himself to continue trying. The doctor wasn’t for him and he knew why: he was nothing compared to Robert.

The dates had been good for one thing though. They’d talked about healers at the hospital and Aaron had decided to investigate more. His interest had been piqued and he’d attended a recruitment session for people interested in using their gifts in the medical world. From there, things had taken off. He’d been inspired by the idea of training to use his gift properly and he’d met people just like himself: people who understood what a special gift he had and what a burden it could be.

He’d known he couldn’t spend the rest of his life mourning the loss of his relationship with Robert and he knew he couldn’t carry on how he was. For one thing, his gift had been nothing but problematic since Robert had left him. Aaron was convinced it was pissed off at him for letting Robert leave and acting up as a way of showing its discontent. Anyone else might have thought he was crazy, but the people he met seemed to know exactly where he was coming from. The sessions had made his mind up for him: he wanted to train to be a healer so he could work at the hospital. He’d wanted to learn how to control his power so he could still help people but not give everything in the process. He knew something had to change and, as the months had gone on, he’d started to realise that maybe Robert had been right about how Aaron gave too much. He’d let his gift be in control and it had often ended in his own suffering, but he’d decided he was going to learn how to deal with that properly.

While Aaron had realised that maybe he’d been too stubborn and refused to see Robert’s point of view, he also stuck by his decision that Robert had been wrong to expect him to give up his healing completely - he’d never be able to do that. He couldn’t have his gift and never use it to help anyone else. But neither of them had considered a third option: an option that meant Aaron could use his gift safely and still walk away from healing someone with no negative side-effects.

He’d learnt so much in just a few months: ways to control his gift and direct it, rather than letting it take over and act purely on instinct; signs to recognise that he was at the limit of what he could endure; strategies to help him recover more quickly if he did need to give a little extra in a life or death situation without needing anyone else’s help.

It had been a whirlwind. But Aaron was feeling better than he had in months. He still missed Robert, more than he thought it was possible to miss anyone, but he was getting better.

***

Aaron woke up and instantly knew something was odd.

Since he’d been training, his gift had been much calmer and more settled, like it knew it had a new purpose. But, even before he’d opened his eyes, he could feel it beneath the surface of his skin, rippling and twitching and pushing. It was odd and completely out of the blue.

Pushing himself up in bed, he wondered whether he should call Claire. She’d been assigned to him as his mentor when he’d joined the healer program at Hotten General and they’d got on like a house on fire almost immediately. She had the same gift as Aaron and seemed to understand him perfectly. She’d taught him so much and he knew he’d be lost without her. Every time he’d had a question about anything to do with his gift, she’d been there to try to answer it for him or just listen to him. He decided to get up and go for a walk to see if some fresh air might shake off the odd feeling, stop off at the cafe for some breakfast and then give her a call.

The walk didn’t seem to make any difference. His gift was still bubbling beneath the surface of his skin. It was like it was desperate to be released but Aaron didn’t think anyone was hurt nearby. It felt different to that. He didn’t feel the sense of urgency that usually accompanied the niggling knowledge that someone needed healing. It didn’t feel wrong. His gift felt...almost excited.

He shook his head as he wandered towards the cafe. He definitely needed to call Claire once he’d got a drink and sat down.

Pushing through the door, he came to an abrupt halt. The man at the counter with his back to the door was instantly recognisable: Aaron would’ve known him anywhere. And even if he hadn’t, his gift all but singing inside him would’ve told him who it was.

It seemed that Robert sensed him too because he spun around immediately and stared at Aaron in wonder. A tiny smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

He looked better than he had the last time Aaron had seen him. His skin is wasn’t as pale and his eyes were brighter. The glow Aaron had always seen before the pub explosion had returned a little, but it wasn’t quite as vivid as before. He looked like the most wonderful, breath-taking thing Aaron had ever seen in his life.

Immediately he stopped himself thinking such things. He couldn’t allow himself to go down that route. Getting over Robert had been the hardest thing he’d ever done and he couldn’t allow himself to suffer like that again just because the man was back in the village. He was probably only there for a day or a quick visit to his sister and then he’d disappear from Aaron’s life again. If he let Robert in, he’d be left heartbroken all over again and he wasn’t sure he would survive it a second time.

They seemed to stare at one another across the cafe for quite a while, neither of them wanting to break the fragile spell they were under. Then, finally, Robert moved. He walked up to Aaron and let his eyes roam over his face. Aaron chewed on his lip as Robert gazed at him. The smile curved the corner of Robert’s lips a little more as his eyes met Aaron’s.

“Hi,” he said quietly.

Aaron’s heart thudded in his chest at the simple greeting. He’d missed hearing Robert’s voice.

“Hi,” he replied, equally as quietly. “I didn’t know you were coming back.”

Robert nodded once. “It’s been a while...thought I’d come back to see Vic.”

Aaron nodded quickly. “Of course.”

Of course he hasn’t come back for you, he told himself firmly.

“Well, um, I’m just gonna get myself a cuppa. So, I’ll, um...”

“Can we...have a catch up?” Robert asked, cutting him off and catching him off guard.

“Um, yeah, I suppose,” Aaron replied.

Robert smiled again. “I’ll let you get your drink and I’ll get us a table outside then, yeah?”

Aaron could only nod as Robert stepped around him. Their arms brushed through their jackets and even that was enough to make Aaron shudder.

By the time Aaron made it outside, his head was spinning and he’d been trying to organise what he wanted to say to Robert. He wanted to know how he was and what he’d been up to and, rather masochistically, he wanted to know if Robert was seeing anyone. He wondered if they’d even get to talk about any of that. Maybe it was just a quick catch-up and then they’d go their separate ways. He was almost vibrating with nerves when he finally made his way outside and found Robert at a table as promised.

It was one of those cool but bright autumn days so it was quite pleasant sitting outside the cafe. Neither of them spoke while Aaron got settled and then he cupped his mug of tea and stared at it as he waited for Robert to initiate the conversation: after all, it was him who’d suggested they sit together.

“So...how have you been?” Robert eventually asked.

When Aaron looked up, he found Robert watching him closely. He seemed almost unable to tear his eyes away from Aaron, like he was drinking him in while he had the chance. Aaron understood how that felt.

He cleared his throat. “Yeah...um, good, I suppose. Took me a while after...after you left,” he lowered his eyes to the table for a moment, remembering the utter heartache, but then he looked up again. “Things have been better recently.”

Robert smiled slightly. “Good...that’s good.”

“And you?”’Aaron asked.

“Same, I suppose,” Robert replied. “Things were pretty bad for a while...I was struggling. But I’m doing okay.”

They fell into silence, both of them looking at their surroundings and then back at one another before they looked away again.

“I’ve started training to be a healer at the hospital,” Aaron blurted out. It seemed incredibly important that he told Robert about it.

“Really?” Robert asked. “What does that involve?”

“I signed up a few months ago. Knew I needed something else to focus on and wanted to use my gift for something good so I started training. It’s been really good for me. I’ve learnt a lot.”

Robert smiled at him. “That’s great, Aaron. I’m pleased for you.”

It wasn’t enough though. Aaron wanted Robert to understand how much it had changed his life and how much it had shifted his ideas about healing.

“Part of my training is knowing when to stop healing someone. And knowing how to recover afterwards. There’s no point being a healer at the hospital if you collapse after the first person you help.”

Robert breathed out a little laugh. “No, that would be kind of useless.” He gazed at Aaron and blinked slowly a few times. “I really am pleased for you. I know how much healing meant to you and I’m glad you’ve found a way to help other people without hurting yourself. I’m proud of you.”

Aaron’s lips curved into a smile. Hearing Robert’s words meant so much to him. But just being in his presence again after so long meant even more. He felt more alive in that short time than he had in months. He knew it was partly because his gift was doing somersaults inside him, but it was also just him. He wanted Robert. He didn’t want to let Robert go again. He felt complete when he was with Robert. He loved Robert.

He loved Robert. And he suddenly realised he’d never even told him that. Through everything they’d experienced - the passion and the energy and the healing and the fights - he’d never actually told Robert that he loved him.

“It’s really good to see that you’re so happy,” Robert said, cutting into Aaron’s racing thoughts.

Aaron looked back into his eyes and Robert almost looked sad somehow. He was still smiling fondly at Aaron, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes.

Robert downed the last of his coffee and put the cup back on the table. “I’d better get going - Vic will be wondering where I got to. It’s been so good to see you, Aaron. I’m...I’m so pleased that you’re doing well. I’ll see you around, yeah?”

With that, he pushed up from his chair and turned to walk away before Aaron could say anything. It was so abrupt.

Aaron hated the sight of Robert walking away from him again. And his gift was practically roaring inside him, screaming at him not to let Robert go again.

His chair scraped back and he was on his feet before he’d even made a conscious decision.

“Robert!” he yelled. “Wait!”

Robert turned at his voice and looked at Aaron warily as he rushed towards him.

“Don’t go,” Aaron said as he stood before him.

Robert looked down at the ground. “I need to.”

“No, you don’t. Please don’t go,” Aaron repeated.

Robert shook his head. “Look, Aaron, I’m really pleased to hear how well you’re doing - I mean it. You deserve to be really happy. But...I’ve got to go.”

Aaron was shaking his head at Robert’s words. “You don’t understand.”

“It was good to see you,” Robert continued and he started backing away, like he hadn’t heard a word Aaron had said.

“Robert! Just listen to me!” Aaron snapped. It had the desired effect as Robert immediately stood still and stared at him in surprise. “You never listen! You’ve made all the decisions: you walked away; you decided it was for the best if you left the village. But now it’s my turn to talk. I am happy or at least happier than I was when you left. But...I miss you. Those few minutes sitting with you just now made me feel better than I have in months...since we broke up. I don’t know if you felt it too, but I’m pretty sure you did. I still want to be with you. Even after all this time, I still want you. I feel like something’s pulling us together because that’s where we belong. We belong together.”

“Aaron,” Robert sighed. He was blinking at Aaron in awe, tears shining in his eyes.

“I love you, Robert,” Aaron said earnestly. “I never said it before but I should’ve done. I shouldn’t have let us give up so easily.”

“I love you too,” Robert murmured. “But what if we can’t get past the problems we had before, the things that split us up. I can’t deal with losing you again, going through all that.”

Aaron was shaking his head, but he was smiling. “But we already are past those things. I’m healing people but I’m doing it the right way. I’m not pushing myself like I was. I realise now, after starting my training, that I was going too far and not looking after myself and I was expecting you to save the day. But it wouldn’t be like that now.”

Robert looked unsure, like he couldn’t quite believe the words, and Aaron was suddenly afraid that all this was too little, too late. What if Robert had accepted that they were over and moved on? What if he couldn’t take the chance on them again?

Robert closed his eyes for a moment and blew out a long breath. “I’ve not felt right since the explosion at the Woolpack. I thought that things would get better, that’s why I left, and they did - a bit. But it’s not been right - I’ve not been right. I’ve felt like I was missing part of myself. And you’re right...being near you...it’s the first time I’ve felt whole in months. I said we couldn’t be together because I couldn’t bear to lose you but I did anyway.”

Aaron smiled softly at him. “We’ve both been stubborn, stupid idiots, haven’t we?”

Robert raised an eyebrow. “Maybe we needed some time apart to see what was right in front of us all along.”

“Maybe,” Aaron agreed. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jacket and leaned forwards a little, teetering on the edge of Robert’s space. “I don’t want us to be apart anymore, Rob. I love you. Will you come back to me?” His heart was thudding in his chest as he waited for Robert’s reply.

Robert smiled widely and laughed suddenly. “Of course I will. I should never have left.”

Aaron’s heart soared and his gift danced beneath his skin.

There was no hesitation as Robert surged forwards and they grabbed one another. Their lips met and warmth rushed through Aaron. He gasped in pleasure as they reconnected, before pressing his lips against Robert’s again. It was perfect: everything he’d missed and loved and yearned for all back in his arms. They kissed desperately like they were trying to remember the taste and feel of one another, not caring that they were in the middle of the street.

Eventually they parted and Robert rested his forehead against Aaron’s. He sighed in contentment.

When Aaron pulled back slightly, he could see the glow of Robert’s skin and the brightness in his eyes that had been missing for so long. He could feel the spark of Robert’s energy fizzling across his skin. His own heart felt full and, for the first time in months, he felt complete.

He smiled at Robert and Robert smiled back. They were together again. They were whole again. They were everything they needed. 

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think. 
> 
> I’m snarfettelove on tumblr.


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